For his classmates the four o’clock bell means lessons are over, but for 16-year-old Babur Ali it is time to take off his uniform and start a new school day as probably the youngest headmaster in the world.

Since he was 11 Babur has been running his own school in Bhabta, a small village outside Murshidabad, West Bengal, passing on to the children of poor families the knowledge he has acquired at his fee-paying school during the day.

It began when children in his village of jute farmers plagued him with questions about what he learnt at the 1,000-rupee-a-year (£12) school their parents could not afford.

Five years later he is acknowledged by district education officials as “headmaster” of the Anand Shikshya Niketan school, with 10 volunteer teachers and 650 pupils desperate to learn.

The school began in the open air. Today it is housed in two bamboo, brick and tile huts, where children are rotated between indoor and outdoor lessons, often with 80 to a class.

“It started without much effort,” he said last week. “There were lots of children who had dropped out or had never been to school. They were always inquisitive about the school and I repeated everything for them.

“There were eight pupils back then and most of them were my friends. Gradually the standard of teaching developed and more and more students came to the school. The word spread to nearby villages and we received more students. My friends helped me out in teaching.”

Babur’s hours would make British teachers wince. He rises at 5am for morning prayers, does household chores, then takes a bus to school in a village three miles away. From 10am to 4pm he focuses on his own education, then he races back to his village to welcome his students at 5pm.

He teaches the state school curriculum – English, Bengali language, history and maths – until 8pm and supervises his colleagues, mainly fellow pupils ranging from 16 to 19 years old. The schedule does not weary him: “I never feel tired – in fact [teaching] gives me more strength.”

Babur’s dream of official status for his school moved closer last week when he was honoured for slashing illiteracy rates in his district by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, West Bengal’s chief minister, at a ceremony in Calcutta.

His parents were bursting with pride. His father, Mohammed Nasiruddin, said he had been shocked when he first discovered his son was teaching. “It was a unique moment, and I couldn’t believe it. I was worried teaching might affect his studies. So I visited his school. Seeing his determination and dedication cleared my doubts,” he said.

Babur has succeeded in attracting pupils to school where the West Bengal authorities, the central government and international aid agencies have failed. At Anand Shikshya Niketan the teachers work unpaid, the children wear their own clothes and the books and desks are financed through donations.

Babur believes he has found his vocation. He wants to qualify as a teacher so that he can develop his school and educate more poor children. His plan is to enrol for an open university degree so he will be able to do so without deserting his pupils.

The secret of his success, he said, is commitment. “You have to be dedicated and determined. You need to create a learning environment. And there has to be goodwill between the teacher and the students.”

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