Babar Ali (teacher)

{{Short description|Indian teacher, headmaster at 16}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Babar Ali

| image = Babar-Ali-Portfolio-Image.jpg

| caption = Babar Ali in 2015 {{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/babar-ali-india-teaching-education |title=The nine-year-old who set up a school in his garden and transformed into a university |magazine=WIRED |location=UK |first=Ruby |last=Lott-Lavigna |date=30 November 2016 |access-date=3 July 2017}}

| birthname =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1993|3|18}}

| birth_place = Murshidabad, West Bengal, India

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Educationist

| nationality = Indian

| citizenship = Indian

| movement =

| notable_works =

| parents = {{plainlist|

• Md Nasiruddin

}}Banuara Bibi

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| relatives =

| awards = Real Heroes Award 2009 by CNN IBN{{Cite web|url=http://www.news18.com/videos/india/real-hero-babar-309216.html|title = Real heroes: Meet India's youngest school principal}}

| signature =

| website = {{URL|https://www.babarali.in}}

}}

Babar Ali (born 18 March 1993) is a teacher from Murshidabad in West Bengal. 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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8299780.stm 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.[http://ishtidane.blogspot.com/2009/04/india-needs-babar-ali-not-varun-gandhi.html India Needs Babar Ali, Not Varun Gandhi], Contemporary Muslim World, 18 April 2009 Pupils come from nearby villages and walk up to four kilometres in order to attend their lessons.[http://www.thebetterindia.com/tags/babar-ali/ 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.

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’,{{Cite web|title=Babar Ali|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/babar-ali/|access-date=8 February 2021|website=Forbes|language=en}} 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 in West Bengal,

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

The Karnataka government has included Babar's story in the prescribed English text book for first year PUC. His story is also in the main course book for 10th grade by NCERT in the CBSE board. Former President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind mentioned Babar Ali and his work in his speech addressing the nation on 25 January 2020.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=25 January 2020|title=Babar Ali & The President of India|url=https://presidentofindia.nic.in/speeches-detail.htm?796|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603131401/https://presidentofindia.nic.in/speeches-detail.htm?796 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |access-date=8 February 2021|website=presidentofindia.gov.in|language=english}}