16 year old head master on a mission to educate underprivilaged children
Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education
because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying change that. In the first report in the BBC's Hunger to Learn series, Damian Grammaticas meets Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children.
At 16 years old, Babar Ali must be the youngest headmaster in the world.
He's a teenager who is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his
family's backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village.
The story of this young man from Murshidabad in West Bengal is a remarkable
tale of the desire to learn amid the direst poverty.
Babar Ali's day starts early. He wakes, pitches in with the household
chores, then jumps on an auto-rickshaw which takes him part of the 10km (six
mile) ride to the Raj Govinda school. The last couple of kilometres he has to
walk.
The school is the best in this part of West Bengal. There are hundreds of
students, boys and girls. The classrooms are neat, if bare. But there are
desks, chairs, a blackboard, and the teachers are all dedicated and well-qualified.
As the class 12 roll-call is taken, Babar Ali is seated in the middle in the
front row. He's a tall, slim, gangly teenager, studious and smart in his
blue and white uniform. He takes his notes carefully. He is the model student.
Babar Ali is the first member of his family ever to get a proper education.
"It's not easy for me to come to school because I live so far away," he
says, "but the teachers are good and I love learning. And my parents believe
I must get the best education possible that's why I am here."
Raj Govinda school is government-run so it is free, all Babar Ali has to pay
for is his uniform, his books and the rickshaw ride to get there. But still
that means his family has to find around 1,800 rupees a year ($40, ?25) to
send him to school. In this part of West Bengal that is a lot of money. Many
poor families simply can't afford to send their children to school, even
when it is free.
Chumki Hajra is one who has never been to school. She is 14 years old and
lives in a tiny shack with her grandmother. Their home is simple A-frame
supporting a thatched roof next to the rice paddies and coconut palms at the edge of
the village. Inside the hut there is just room for a bed and a few
possessions.
Every morning, instead of going to school, she scrubs the dishes and cleans
the homes of her neighbours. She's done this ever since she was five. For
her work she earns just 200 rupees a month ($5, ?3). It's not much, but it's
money her family desperately needs. And it means that she has to work as a
servant everyday in the village.
"My father is handicapped and can't work," Chumki tells me as she scrubs a
pot. "We need the money. If I don't work, we can't survive as a family. So I
have no choice but to do this job."
But Chumki is now getting an education, thanks to Babar Ali. The 16-year-old
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.
At four o'clock every afternoon after Babar Ali gets back to his family home
a bell summons children to his house. They flood through the gate into the
yard behind his house, where Babar Ali now acts as headmaster of his own,
unofficial school.
Lined up in his back yard the children sing the national anthem. Standing on
a podium, Babar Ali lectures them about discipline, then study begins.
Babar Ali gives lessons just the way he has heard them from his teachers.
Some children are seated in the mud, others on rickety benches under a
rough, homemade shelter. The family chickens scratch around nearby. In every corner
of the yard are groups of children studying hard.
Babar Ali was just nine when he began teaching a few friends as a game. They
were all eager to know what he learnt in school every morning and he liked
playing at being their teacher.
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.
"Our area is economically deprived," he says. "Without this school many kids
wouldn't get an education, they'd never even be literate."
Seated on a rough bench squeezed in with about a dozen other girls, Chumki
Hajra is busy scribbling notes.
Her dedication to learning is incredible to see. Every day she works in
homes in the village from six in the morning until half past two in the
afternoon, then she heads to Babar Ali's school. At seven every evening she heads back to do more cleaning work.
Chumki's dream is to one day become a nurse, and Babar Ali's classes might
just make it possible.
The school has been recognised by the local authorities, it has helped
increase literacy rates in the area, and Babar Ali has won awards for his
work.
The youngest children are just four or five, and they are all squeezed in to
a tiny veranda. There are just a couple of bare electric bulbs to give light
as lessons stretch into the evening, and only if there is electricity.
And then the monsoon rain begins. Huge drops fall as the children scurry for
cover, slipping in the mud. They crowd under a piece of plastic sheeting.
Babar Ali shouts an order. Lessons are cancelled for the afternoon otherwise
everyone will be soaked. Having no classrooms means lessons are at the mercy
of the elements.
The children climb onto the porch of a nearby shop as the rain pours down.
Then they hurry home through the downpour. Tomorrow they'll be back though.
Eight hundred poor children, unable to afford an education, but hungry for
anything they can learn at Babar Ali's school.
When Babar can teach hundreds of students in spite of so many ods, can't we teach or facilitate somebody's education which can transform their lives?
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Year of Giving - 365 Stories of Personal Giving
From
http://yearofgiving.wordpress.com
The Year of Giving started officially on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm. The concept is simple. I will give $10 to a different person every day for a year. I will write about the people who I intersect with as well as the truly altruistic experience that I am sure to have!
I recently lost my job at a nonprofit organization due to the economic climate so taking on this endeavor may not seem fiscally prudent. However, I think it is exactly these times that we must focus on helping others.
My goal is not to change the lives of those with whom I come in contact. Let’s face it, $10 dollars is not going to change someone’s life in and of itself. I do believe, however, that the act of giving will hopefully inspire others to pursue the ideals that the French philosopher Auguste Comte envisioned when he coined the term “altruism.” Whether that comes in the form of someone who reads this blog and wants to embark on their own Year of Giving or someone who uses the $10 to help someone else out, the specific results are less important than the overall good that we can achieve together.
- Reed
Hat tip:
http://twitter.com/charityfocus
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Calling submissions for a new magazine called Rethinking India
Calling submissions of ANY type on any topic relating to India.
*Rethinking INDIA
* is part of the Indian non-profit, *My Society*.
It is a user-driven website, providing a platform for citizens & netizens to share information, articles, blogs, stories, photographs and videos.
Within the coming months, we will also begin publishing a print-copy magazine of the best content from the website.
We are currently seeking submissions of content from anybody - it doesn't matter if you are an academic, a journalist, a development practitioner or just a person with an idea or story to share.
The new website will be launched on 1 May. We would, ideally, like to have as much content as possible online by the time we launch.
Please get in touch: satbir@rethinkingindia.com
Source:
http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org
source from:ngopost.org
