Grand entry into literacy

Thane, February 19

Clad in her pink uniform with a backpack on her shoulders, Kanta More walks down to her school every morning reciting the nursery rhyme she was taught the previous day.

Along with 29 of her classmates, she begins her day at school with a prayer and goes on to recite the alphabets in Marathi swaying back and forth, as she etches them out on her black slate with a piece of chalk. It could be an everyday scene in any elementary school, but with one difference: the students are all aged between 60 and 90 years of age. Kanta (70) and her friends study at Ajibainchi Shala, a grandmothers’ school in Fangane village here, where they receive elementary education.

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An initiative to turn the hour glass by 45-year-old Yogendra Bangar, the school aims to educate the elderly women in the village, where farming is the dominant profession. Bangar, a teacher at the Fangane Zila Parishad Primary School, collaborated with the Motiram Charitable Trust. Initially hesitant about attending school, Kanta says being educated makes her feel independent. “Initially I was shy and hesitant, but when I came to know that women of my age and above were joining the Shala, I went ahead with the decision. Now I can read and write in my language,” she says.

Interestingly, Kanta is taught by her own daughter-in-law Sheetal, who is a teacher at the school. Besides teaching them alphabets, Sheetal also makes them learn the verses and hymns written by great Marathi saints.

The overwhelming enthusiasm of the women is also conspicuous in 87-year-old Ramabai’s determination that remains undeterred despite suffering from a hearing impairment. To make the school compound greener, each student has planted a sapling named after them, which they water everyday. The idea for opening the Shala struck Bangar last year when he found that nearly all elderly women in the village were illiterate. Bangar, who travels 75 km everyday from the city to the school and back, says any form of help would help take the initiative to other parts of the state. — PTI