In West Bengal, India, a schoolboy began sharing his lessons with children who could not attend school. That small afternoon gathering grew into a lasting commitment to free education.
Babar Ali was still a child when he noticed a difference between his daily routine and that of other children in his community. He attended school; some of them worked.
In 2002, aged nine, he began teaching in the backyard of his family home in Murshidabad, West Bengal. His first group included eight children, with his younger sister among them. What initially felt like playing teacher developed into a serious undertaking, according to his account reported by WIRED in 2016.
That undertaking became Ananda Siksha Niketan, a name translated as “Home of Joyful Learning.” The school’s website describes its purpose as providing free education to children whose circumstances can put learning out of reach.
Sharing What He Had Learned
Ali’s earliest teaching materials were modest. In a 2018 interview with the news agency IANS, he recalled collecting leftover chalk from his own school and using it to teach children in his neighbourhood.
Lessons included Bengali reading and writing, basic mathematics, science and geography. Afternoon classes allowed children who worked in the mornings to participate. The arrangement reflected the realities of families whose livelihoods depended on low-paid work.
The significance lay in the regular commitment. Teaching required Ali to return, prepare and explain what he knew in ways other children could understand.
Growing Beyond the Backyard
As participation increased, the project needed support beyond one young teacher.
An older school account describes volunteers contributing teaching and administrative work. It also records former pupils returning as teachers—a meaningful development for an initiative built around sharing access to learning.
Those returning pupils demonstrate one way education can extend its effects. A child receives an opportunity, develops skills and later helps create opportunities for others.
Running a school also requires continuity: people to teach, organise resources and maintain relationships with families. Ali’s early initiative provided a starting point, while the involvement of others helped develop it into an institution.
Recognition at Sixteen
In October 2009, the BBC described Ali as the “youngest headmaster in the world,” when he was sixteen. INK Talks’ speaker profile records that recognition and his participation at TEDIndia that year.
The description brought attention to his unusual beginning. Yet the more substantial story concerns what happened after the first lessons: the continued effort to make education available.
A striking title can introduce a person to the world. The everyday responsibilities behind that title are what sustain their work.
Students Who Became Teachers
By 2018, Ali told IANS that six former female pupils had returned to teach after completing undergraduate studies. He also spoke about encouraging families to continue their daughters’ education in a community where early marriage could interrupt schooling.
Their return offers a concrete example of progress. The school had helped create a route through which learners could become educators themselves.
It also makes the story larger than its founder. The pupils, teachers, families and supporters each have a part in what the school becomes.
A Lesson in Starting Small
The school’s website presents joyful learning and equal opportunity as central to its mission.
For readers elsewhere, Ali’s journey offers three practical ideas.
Share a skill you already have. Reading, numeracy or help with schoolwork can be useful contributions when offered responsibly.
Make the commitment consistent. A dependable weekly activity may achieve more than an ambitious plan that never becomes routine.
Welcome other people’s contributions. Lasting community work needs shared effort and room for others to take responsibility.
A backyard provided the setting for Ali’s first classes. What gave those classes lasting importance was the decision to keep making space for children to learn.
Who is helping people access education in your community? Tell us about them in the comments.
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