Meet India's youngest school principal

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New Delhi: This year in our special series Real Heros, we feature India's youth heroes.

Babar Ali from West Bengal, has just one passion in life, education for all.
That's why 16 year old Babar is perhaps India's youngest school principal.
Another day has ended at this school in West Bengal's Murshidabad district.
But for one particular student it's time to start a new chapter.

This is the extraordinary story of Babar Ali who studies in Class 11. Since 2002, every evening, between 1600 hours and 1900 hours, he takes on the role of a principal perhaps India's youngest at a school - the Anand Siksha Niketan in Gangapur village.

Principal, Ananda Shiksha Niketan Babar Ali says, “Aami onk dekhechi ki aamr motor boyesher chele ra cricket khelto football khelto..kintu aami eishober shonge jukto chilam na.Aar aamar porano porano khela tai sho theke bhalo lagto aar eta korar por ei aami ekhane ashe school take dara koriyechi. (Unlike other kids I never wanted to play football or cricket. In my younger days I used to play the role of a teacher and student).

What started off as child's play took the shape of a school on October 29, 2002. At the tender age of 9, with a little help from his parents, Babar set up a room to teach on his ancestral land.

Ali says, “Aami jokhon 5 e pori tokhon ei vidyaloy ta aami 8 jon chhatra chhatri der ke niye shuru kori. She chhatra chatri aaj 8 jon teke baedhe 600 jon hoyeche. (When I was in Class 5 I started this school with 8 students…it has been a long journey since then,,from 8 students we have almost 600 students now).

But getting 600 students to enroll was no easy task. In this hamlet, abject poverty means education is a luxury few can afford. So Babar makes sure that the education at his school is absolutely free.

Today the school has classes from 1 to 8 and a staff strength of 10 including 5 teachers aged between 13 and 18, students themselves of classes 9th to 12th.

There are some hard realities that Babar faces even today. The government provides funds for the midday meal and books till class 4. For other expenses he has to depend on donations from well wishers…which is never enough.
Ali says, “We still don't have a school building.”
Plans are many, so are the hardships. But Babar knows that all these years, running the school has never been a burden on his young shoulders.

An IITian's pursuit of a stronger India

Published on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 16:30, Updated on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:22 in Nation » India section

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Now to our special series about ordinary people doing extraordinary work, our Real Hero today is Elango Rangaswamy.

He's managed to bring out his entire village from caste and ignorance into education and self-sufficiency.

It's a lesson learned early. Fight caste discrimination with education. At a village school in Koothambakkam, a predominantly Dalit village, young boys and girls are getting a chance at their future and helping them realise their dream is Rangaswamy Elango, an IITian, a mechanical engineer and Koothambakkam's most beloved Sarpanch.

The first technical graduate from Kuthambakkam, Elango was picked up from the campus in 1982 by Oil India. But Elango quit his job and resumed links with his roots.

Elango says, “I thought of making use of this and find a solution to my villages' problems.”

Elango stood for the Panchayat elections and won.

He feels that the the Panchayat is the right tool for making real development.

Apart from encouraging education, Elango developed small scale industries that make kerosene stoves, energy conserving lamps, first aid kits, all in Kuthambakkam.

In the year 200, the Panchayat constructed this Samatuvapuram or township of equality in a village with strong caste divisions, stand 50 twin houses, with one Dalit and one non-Dalit family each. Now, even fights are fought together.

It's this unity that has been Elango's biggest success. At the Gram Sabha, every question is answered, every complaint redressed, and every success shared.

Elango’s goal is to see a strong self reliant villages from which would emerge a stronger India.

Musicians play for street kids

Delhi college students show the way for the underprivileged
By IANS . Feb 11, 2009, www.ibnlive.com
http://buzz18.in.com/news/music/musicians-play-for-street-kids/115372/0

Adheer Ghosh, 20, is very busy like many other Delhi University students who are juggling daylong extra-curricular activities in addition to academics. But there is a distinction in this young guitarist's weekly schedule - a two-hour session when he conducts music workshops for street kids at Shastri Nagar in north Delhi.
Ghosh is a volunteer with Music Basti, an initiative of young musicians of the city to interact at a forum with street and homeless children.
At present these informal interactive workshops are conducted for small boys under the age of 12 at a non-custodian boys hostel at Sarai Basti, supported by NGO YP Foundation.
"I enjoy the sessions, it's an interactive informal forum. Each time I take something back with me," Ghosh, a third year English-honours student at Kirori Mal College, told IANS.
Ghosh is a part of his college music society Musoc and is also member of Five8, a popular youth band.
"The first time I came it was just to watch and the experience of watching these kids bubbling with enthusiasm and asking questions about how an instrument works was an eye-opener," Ghosh admitted.
Since July 2008, when the project began, there have been 12-odd sessions.
"This is the coming together of musicians with a purpose - while the music is competent professional music the audience here is not the usual gig," said Suhail Yusuf Khan, a sarangi (Indian string instrument) player of the Advaita band.
When Khan pulls out his instrument and plays a soothing raga or sargam (pattern of notes), it seems to have a calming effect on the otherwise boisterous kids.
With gleaming eyes and rapt attention they listen, ask questions about the music and how the strumming sounds the way it does - soon they too croon along, singing songs originally composed by Advaita.

Muhammad is an eight-year-old staying at the Uma Pandey children's home run by NGO Aman Biradari. The boy is a regular at the sessions and specially enjoys listening to the sarangi.
"I like it here, I used to roam around in the streets earlier, now I got admission in a school," said the enthusiastic child.
"I like it when they (the young musicians) play. I look forward to it - the music gives a sense of peace of mind," Muhammed told IANS.
Avinash Bhagel, a violinist and member of Musoc, who has helped conduct a couple of the workshops, pointed out: "Their interest is overwhelming. They grasp things quickly and remember - things that often an accomplished musician can't get."
The concept of using music as a forum to interact with underprivileged children is the brainchild of Faith Gonsalves, a student of history at the Lady Sriram College.

"I really love music and wanted to use a different medium to interact the kids," Gonsalves said.
These sessions according to Gonsalves, serve a dual purpose.
"Most NGOs focus on teaching maths, Hindi, English to the children - which too is really commendable. Through these music interactions, the kids can learn music and the sessions are also meant for recreation," Gonsalves said.
The music played at these sessions is not the popular Bollywood jamboree; it is in fact a blend of Indian classical and western music.
Music Basti has a simple process to volunteer for anyone interested. To extend any help - musical and non-musical, one can send an email at musicbasti@gmail.com with personal information and details of how they would like to volunteer or work.
"After talking to them and seeing if they can interact with kids, we accordingly set them up. Any form of volunteering requires commitment, even if it is a one-off thing and the interaction needs to be tailored to the age and interest of the kids," Gonsalves added.

In 2009, Music Basti hopes to conduct workshops in multiple locations in the city. Workshops were on till November 2008 conducted on a bi-monthly basis after which they were suspended for the winter - when many of the student volunteers had exams.
"We hope to conduct workshops at least three times a month in a location. It is a small project; any expansion will be gradual."
The reason is that all the volunteers are mostly college students or working individuals who are doing this part-time.
But the whole lot appears very optimistic and determined.
"It takes just two hours each week - there is no reason not to do it," Adheer said.
"We may not have the logistics to give each kid an instrument on which he can learn, but we do generate a lingering positive interest in a few children," Gonsalves added.