Babar Ali (born 18 March 1993) is a teacher from

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. During ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. He was called the "youngest headmaster in the world" by BBC in October 2009, at the age of sixteen. He had begun teaching at nine years of age, mostly as a game, and then decided to continue teaching other children at a larger scale.''The ‘youngest headmaster in the world’''
BBC News, 12 October 2009 That the school is tuition-free makes it affordable for the poor in this economically deprived area, so that the school has been recognised to have helped increase literacy rates in the area. In Murshidabad there had been no governmental or private schools.
Contemporary Muslim World, 18 April 2009 Pupils come from nearby villages and walk up to four kilometres in order to attend their lessons.''The Common Man''
The Better India Babar Ali succeeded in having his school recognized by the local authorities when he realised that this would entitle its pupils to the portion of free rice given to pupils at the end of the month by the government. Babar gets his inspiration from

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

. In 2009, Babar Ali won a prize from the program Real Heroes of the Indian English news channel CNN IBN for his work and was awarded the NDTV ‘Indian of the Year’ award and LITERACY HERO AWARD, BY ROTARY INDIA LITERACY MISSION and recently featured in ‘FORBES ASIA’ in their 30 under 30 list as a ‘SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR’, also recognised as the Literacy hero by international literacy association in their "30 under 30" list, Also received Education leadership award by BBC knowledge, His story became a part of the syllabus for the CBSE 10th standard English textbook, PUC English textbook for Govt. of Karnataka, and also in curriculum across the globe. He was featured on Aamir Khan's TV show Satyamev Jayate in July 2012, and is regularly invited to speak at various conferences and forums all over the world. Babar is also a TED Fellow and an INK FELLOW AND INK Conference speaker and Wired fellow, Babar graduated from Berhampur Krishnath College (under

Kalyani University The University of Kalyani, established in 1960, is a Government of West Bengal administered, UGC affiliated, NAAC accredited, collegiate Public Research university in Kalyani, West Bengal, India. It offers courses at the Undergraduate, Post ...

in West Bengal, India) in English Honours, and Completed his M.A. in English & History. The

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

government has included Babar's story in the prescribed

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

text book for first year PUC. His story is also in the main course book for 10th grade by NCERT in the CBSE board. Honourable President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind mentioned about him and his work in his speech towards nation on 25 January 2020.

References

External links

Official Link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Babar Indian schoolteachers Living people 1993 births Krishnath College alumni Educators from West Bengal