This unique school is teaching grannies to read and write

In The News   By Tue, Dec 3, 2019

Bright pink may represent a host of things, but for 30 women senior citizens in Maharashtra, it is a colour that represents empowerment through education. It is the colour of their uniform, bright pink nine-yard saris that they wear to school every day. These grannies, aged 60 to 90 years, attend a unique weekend school, Aajibaichi Shala in Fangane village of the Thane district in Maharashtra.

They carry their slates, etching the alphabet on it with white chalk, when learning. If need be, they use their saliva to erase, despite the teacher urging them to use their saris. One of them carries a bottle of water to erase properly.

Apart from the alphabet and the correct pronunciation of each letter, the students receive elementary education, including basic and practical maths. They also learn and recite nursery rhymes.

The initiative was taken up by the Murbad Zilla resident and teacher Yogendra Bangar, who started the school in the premises of the Fangane Zilla Parishad School three years back. He established a collaboration with Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust for procuring the necessities like blackboard and basic necessities of the students—uniform, school bags, slates and chalks.

The students, apart from appreciating their literacy and upbeat about the fact that the education makes them feel independent.

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