125 kilometers away from Mumbai, there is a school in Fangane village. This school is unique because they don’t have children as their students. The minimum age for admission here is 60 years. Grandmothers are the students here. In their pink color sarees, carrying their bags, they go to the school and study together. It has become their favourite place. The name of the school is ‘Aajibaichi Shala’ which means granny’s school.
In Maharashtra granny’s are called ‘Aajibai’. Grandmothers here go to school everyday from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the evening. The school was started on 8th March, which is also the international women’s day. 28 grandmothers of the village had never gone to school in their life. The school was started especially to educate them. The aim of the village is to make it 100% literate and with the help of Motilal Dalal charitable trust, Mr. Yogendra started this school for grandmothers. The main motive is to make the elderly ladies self dependent.
Most of the males in Fangane village know how to write their names and do signatures. So the trust thought of bringing the senior women of this village to this level. With this kind dream, ‘Aajibaiji Shala’ was started. Earlier women used to put their thumb impression as signatures. People used to laugh at them. They were made to stand in a different line in a bank. They have lived uneducated but they don’t want to die uneducated. Then they started going to school. They learnt how to read and write. Now they have learnt how to put their signatures. The feeling of being able to write their own names makes them content and happy.
All the 28 grandmothers of this village have taken admission here. The villagers and the family members have welcomed and supported this initiative. Now the grandmothers study along with their grandchildren at home. They are also able to do homework together. It’s never late to start learning. If you want to learn and work hard for it, age is never a restriction. The Aajibai school at the Fangane village is the perfect example of this.