Youngest Headmaster ~ BBC on India's Babar Ali

Thanks to the BBC Hunger to Learn series host Damian Grammaticas for spotting The 'youngest headmaster in the world', 16-year old West Bengali, Babar Ali, who...

"...is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his family's backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village. [Babar is still in formal school himself, but...] has made it his mission to help Chumki and hundreds of other poor children in his village. The minute his lessons are over at Raj Govinda school, Babar Ali doesn't stop to play, he heads off to share what he's learnt with other children from his village. [...] Now his afternoon school has 800 students, all from poor families, all taught for free. Most of the girls come here after working, like Chumki, as domestic helps in the village, and the boys after they have finished their day's work labouring in the fields. "In the beginning I was just play-acting, teaching my friends," Babar Ali says, "but then I realised these children will never learn to read and write if they don't have proper lessons. It's my duty to educate them, to help our country build a better future." Including Babar Ali there are now 10 teachers at the school, all, like him are students at school or college, who give their time voluntarily. Babar Ali doesn't charge for anything, even books and food are given free, funded by donations. It means even the poorest can come here."

This is a great story of entrepreneurial persistence and passion, but also a powerful case example of kid-to-kid, older-to-younger and peer-to-peer learning.