Principal of School at Age 16

For Babar Ali from West Bengal, India, life is all about living for his passion which is to make education available to everyone. He took on his passion starting to educate kids at his own village (and adjacent villages). What makes it more interesting is that Babar is still a 16 years old teenager and studies in Class 11 himself.

Babar used to play role of teacher when he was a kid and at the age of 9 (he was studying 5th Grade at the time) he had set up a room to teach other kids at his home with the help of his parents with just 8 students in 2002. What started then as a hobby is now Babar’s passion, his 8 students ‘Anand Shiksha Niketan’ school has evolved into 600 students now.

Every day after he leaves his school as a student he goes to Anand Shiksha Niketan where he is a ‘Principal’. This school has about 10 members on the staff including 5 teachers who are all between the age group of 13 to 19 years. His passion inspired other teenagers to take part with him in his venture.

The school does not have a building yet or funds to run the way Babar would like it to run but nevertheless he manages the expenses from the donations received. Classes are held at the open land at his ancestral property. Amidst of all the scarcities Babar never finds it difficult to carry on with his mission.

It is never too early or never too late to pursue your passion. Babar reminds us all this by living out of his own passion making his action speak for itself at such a young age. His passion was so intense that people have come forward to help him in his project, even other teenagers got inspired to do their part and are contributing their time as teachers at this school now.

Babar realized his passion at a very young age, many of us may not have found our passion because we may have never looked into ourselves deep enough. May be this is just the right time to take a look deep in to our innerself to see what moves us, what is that we are passionate about, what is that we can spend our entire life with real fulfillment. Once we find our passion, irrespective of where we are in life, we will find energy and courage to go after it. Without a dream we may as well while through this life but that’s not quite living, is it? If you think you are too old or too young to pursue your passion, remember the inspiring message of Babar’s story, it is never too early or never too late to pursue your passion.

Story & facts source: CNN-IBN Real Heroes Series, http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/85749/real-heroes-meet-indias-youngest-school-principal.html