They were just nine or ten years old when they began teaching. They sat in the backyards of their houses, showing children younger than them how to write alphabets on arum leaves. What started as an afternoon hobby six or seven years ago for these children from the villages in Beldanga block of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, has resulted in a crop of dedicated 15-to-17-year-old teachers and headmasters who have set up schools here. The teenagers, who attend high school in the morning, become teachers and administrators in the evening, educating children up to class 8.

Babar Ali, son of a small-time jute trader, was nine when he started teaching along with a few friends. At 16, Ali, a student of the Beldanga CRGS High School, is also the headmaster of Ananda Shiksha Niketan in Bhabta village in Beldanga block, a school with 728 students on its rolls.

The state government has recognised the school and promised to extend all necessary cooperation. A blackboard was installed in 2005, and a shed added last year to provide shelter from the rains. Sitting in his office at the school, Ali, who has won many awards, says, “We have bought 10 cottas of land to set up a proper school here and soon we will have midday meals for the children. This will help run the school smoothly.”

Mohd Kamrul Zaman and Imtiaz Sheikh, both class 12 students, have taught at the school for four years. “We observed the young teachers at work here and felt inspired to join the school. Now, if we can’t turn up even for a day, we feel bad,” says Zaman. The school now has 10 teachers—most of them in their mid-teens—who teach voluntarily, without pay.

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