In 2009 Babar featured on CNN-
IBN’s Real Heroes and was awarded
NDTV’s Indian of the Year Award. In
2012, he appeared alongside Aamir
Khan on the TV show Satyamev
Jayate. He was also made a TED
Fellow and shared his story on TED
India Talks in Mysore. Since then,
he has travelled to Canada and the
U.S. for TED Talks. The Karnataka
government included a chapter on
him in a CBSE Class XII English
textbook.
By 2014, more alumni returned
to Ananda Shiksha Niketan with
formal diplomas in teaching. The
number of students rose to 200 and
21-year-old Babar was officially
recognized as the ‘youngest
headmaster’ by the West Bengal state
education department.
In 2007, he purchased 7,200 square
feet of land with 10 lakhs donated by
one of his supporters. A new school
building was inaugurated in 2015 at
Shankarpara village, three kilometres
away from the previous school.
The state government does not
give any financial aid to the school.
The school’s annual expenditure is
met by donations. Babar provides
students with uniforms, mid-day
meals, and scholarships with the help
of sponsorships and donations. The
school is affiliated to the West Bengal
Board of Secondary Education till
Class 8; Babar encourages students’
parents to admit them to affiliated
schools afterwards.
Currently, the school’s 300 students
are taught by ten teachers including
Babar and his sister. There is a seven-
member management committee
comprising of village elders and
retired teachers. No salary is given
to the teachers nor any fees charged
from the students. The school
motto? “We must do something
extraordinary in this short human
life.”
In the future, Babar is hoping to
extend the education beyond the
schooling level. “My dream is to
extend it to college in the future,” he
says. He looks forward to starting a
hostel facility and smart classrooms.Babar was inspired by Swami
Vivekananda whose words, “Jeebey
prem kore jei jon, sheijon sebichhe
iswar” (Service to man is service to
God) have been his motto in life.Babar’s advice to parents? “Never
underestimate the potential of
children. At nine, when I decided
to start a school of my own, a single
word of discouragement from the
part of my parents would have let me
down. They trusted me. My call was tobecome a teacher. Your child’s might
be to become a businessman or a
scientist or a writer. Motivate them to
do what they are passionate about.”Babar graduated with a B.A.
(Honours) in English and went on
to do an M.A. (English Literature).
He is now pursuing another post-
graduate programme in History.“I believe that if you are passionate
about something then you can
achieve anything. Age, finances,
other hurdles, just don’t matter and
eventually everything works out.”Maj (Retd.) Pradeep Khare is a veteran of the Indian
Army. he is the author of real Inspiring Stories and Unsung
heroes. he writes a motivational blog Fragrance Of Success
and runs a motivational YouTube channel guldasta. he can
be reached at [email protected]Babar Ali, aged 11 or 12,
teaching children from his
village in Murshidabad after
returning from school.