This school in India is just for grandmothers

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last updated 9 March 2017

Grandmothers in a village in India are hitting the books, going to school every day except Thursday to learn how to read and write.

The school celebrated its one-year anniversary on Wednesday, International Women's Day, with founder Yogendra Bangar telling the BBC it was started to show women "the respect they deserve." He raised money to purchase teaching materials and pink saris for the women, set up a classroom, and found a teacher, Sheetal More, 30, who works for free and counts her mother-in-law as one of her students. "If a woman is educated, the entire house becomes educated as she brings knowledge and light to the house," Bangar said.

There are now 30 students between the ages of 60 and 90 attending this special school, including Ansuya Deshmukh, who was married off at age 10. "There was no money to buy slate and books, no money to buy clothes," the 90-year-old told the BBC. "I used to go sometimes, mostly alternate days, but I used to fall sick so they stopped sending me to school." Over the past year, she has learned how to sign her name, recite the alphabet, and count to 21.