Babur Ali (The youngest headmaster of the world)

---

Meet Babar Ali who hails from a remote village called Gangpur in Murshidabad district of West Bengal situated at 180 Km distance from the capital city Kolkata. He started a career as a teacher at the age of nine by teaching his neighborhood kids after the school hours in his backyard and today at the age of 23 runs a school of 800 children and is still going strong in his mission to educate children of the remotest parts of this Nation.

Babar Ali’s Childhood

Babar Ali was born on 18th March 1993, in a predominantly Muslim populated village of Gangpur. He is the eldest amongst four siblings for his parents Md. Nasiruddin and Banuara Bibi. His father Nasiruddin a small jute merchant in Murshidabad admitted Babar to Bhabta Rasidiya Primary School in the year 1998, which was 2 KM away from his house. He studied in this school up to 4th standard. At the age of nine, he was admitted to Beldanga CRGS High School, about 10 kilometers away from his home. The schooling at CRGS Schools became a turning point in Babar’s life. During his long walk from bus stand to house in the evenings (which was 2 KM away from his home), Babar used to witness a huge crowd of children spending their time grazing cattle in fields. Babar’s inner voice prompted him to invite those children to study with him. The children used to readily agree for his invitation and all that started as a game of teaching and learning in the front yard of his house has become a school of repute today. Even his younger sister Amina Khatun was also one of among first eight students who got admitted to Babar’s school.

The Growth Phase of School

Formally Babar’s school started operation on 19th October 2002. During Initial day’s his Father Nasaruddin having witnessed Babar’s dedication in teaching donated him 600 INR to purchase notebooks and textbooks, thus funding for his school had a beginning from home itself.

School Named as ‘Ananda Shiksha Niketan’

Babar school started grabbing public attention. Prof. Sanath Kar, Principal of a nearby college, Beldanga SRF College, who also happened to be a close friend of Babar’s father was impressed by his work. He donated many books to Babar’s school and christened it as Ananda Shiksha Niketan (Happy Learning Home). Villagers who were skeptical about Babar’s intention also slowly gained confidence in him as many media houses reported the story about his service. Thus school started attracting more students and has grown up to 800 student strength in the span of 13 years. Today this Bengali Medium has recognition from West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (since 2012) and growing strong with many of its old students joining hands with Babar in the process of teaching. Of course, Babar himself has elevated from Teacher to Head Master’s role!