In the lesson ‘Babar Ali’, Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma introduces to the readers the world’s youngest headmaster – Babar Ali – through the words of Tanvir, a Youth Leader volunteer. Our pride lies in the fact that this sixteen-year-old headmaster is an Indian, hailing from Murshidabad in West Bengal. Babar Ali’s father Nasiruddin Sheikh, a jute seller, though uneducated, believed in the idea that education is man’s true religion and sent Babar to school. Babar, a first-generation learner, was a model student in school.
But, what he did after school was more significant than being studious or smart. With the awareness that he was one of the few fortunate boys in the village, Babar was prompted to do something for his fellow youngsters who did not enjoy the same privilege. That is why, after his school hours, in the backyard of his house, in the open air, he started teaching the children who wanted to learn, but had no opportunity to do so and were deprived of their basic right to education.
Even if the government-aided education was free, the other expenses incurred over the uniform, books, etc., discouraged parents from sending their children to school. Hence, the children ended up us maidservants, mechanics, day labourers, grass cutters, livestock herders etc. Babar Ali’s vision for these children was different. He wanted to teach these children who were prepared to walk for miles to learn. Thus came into being ‘Anand Siksha Niketan’. In fact, the school started as a game and soon turned into a serious pursuit because children enjoyed learning arithmetic. An institution that came into being with just eight children and one young headmaster, to begin with, in nine years time, had 60 regular attendees, 10 volunteer teachers, 200 students on roll-call and 800 students in total. Fortunately, the school had benefactors in teachers, IAS officers, social workers and religious leaders.
To top it all, even the West Bengal government recognised the school. But, one should remember that the real strength of the school lay in the selfless service of simple people like Tulu Rani Hazra, an illiterate fishmonger, who encouraged parents to send their children to school; Debarita, a college-going teenager, who had the noble desire to help the underprivileged of society by being their teacher. The strength of the school also lay in the.fact that all teacher volunteers were students who used their free time productively to teach the less fortunate, and the fact that they were not very senior to the students helped them in getting the attention of their pupils.
Thus, we see that the efforts of a single boy resulted in almost a revolution in the field of education and made people believe in the ideal that common people can achieve uncommon feats.
