Video: This School for Grannies Helps Elderly Women Reclaim Their Dream of Literacy

Some villagers with vision set up a school for grannies where all students today, including a 92-year-old, can sign their names.

Move over children, the only people allowed in this school are your grandmothers. Aaajibaichi Shala in a village near Thane, Mumbai, is indeed a school with a difference. India’s first and only school for grannies opened its doors on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2016. The co-founder, Yogendra Bangar, says the idea came to the villagers during an event where stories of the famed Maratha warrior Shivaji were being narrated. Some of the grannies in the village said they wished they too could read these stories as well as the holy texts. Immediately, the villagers encouraged the idea of schooling the old women and the project began to take shape.

The school was started with 30 students aged 60-90 who show up to attend class in their uniform of pink sarees. A young teacher teaches them how to read, write and multiply. Almost all the grannies enlist their grandchildren for help with homework, a great way for the generations to interact and have fun together.

The school is open for two hours a day in the late afternoon so that the grannies can finish their household chores in the morning and get some rest before showing up for class. The attendance is almost 100% – it is indeed remarkable that these elderly women who grew up illiterate do not want to die illiterate. Kudos to the villagers too who are supporting them in this first of its kind endeavour in the country.

Watch this YouTube video to see the amazing transformation taking place in the lives of these grannies: