And because we know that from the moment our kids enter a school, the most important factor in their success -- other than their parents -- is the person standing in front of the classroom, the teacher.
In majority Muslim Iraq, the law requires boys and girls in both public and private schools to study separately from age 12, when they enter secondary school.
Bopara is the role-model for the next generation - a boy who scrambled 10 team-mates together from his inner London state school to enter a Capital Kids competition run by the Lord's Taverners, which they won.