A school where grandmas fulfil literacy dreams
KACHNAWADA(KOTA): I conducted a survey of education among rural women and found that many of them were illiterate so we decided to start these kendras in the rural areas
OM BIRLA, Kota MP
In government upper primary school of Kachnawada village, every evening for two hours, special classes are held for special students. Elderly women come to these classes to fulfill their dreams of getting literate – at least be able to sign their names.
Fifty-year-old Kalawati Bai (50) couldn’t go to school due to poverty; now she wants to be literate so that she doesn’t use thumb impression in banks to withdraw social security benefits. Several others like her have been attending these classes for last two months.
Kota MP Om Birla and Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (CFCL) started the classes on an experimental basis. On Monday evening, the centre was officially launched and named Matra Gyan Kendra.
The ‘students’ wore pink sarees and carried slate and chalk during the launch ceremony in Sangod region of Kota district.
Annu Kewat a schoolteacher for the grandmas said the classes for the elderly woman began two months ago and in this period women have learnt to write their names. The classes, she added, are held from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm so that they don’t disturb classes in the school.
BJP MP Birla said often the elderly women remain illiterate for the lack of schools for them. Matra Gyan Kendra will solve that problem. Soon four more such centres will be opened in government schools of the district, he added.
“I conducted a survey of education among rural women and found that a large number of them were illiterate so we decided to start these kendras in the rural areas,” Birla said.
CFCL corporate social responsibility manager Vikas Bhati said that the women coming to the classes will get uniform, stationery and other facilities required for their education from the CSR fund.
The centre is a boon for women such as Kranti Bai, 60.
“Everyone in my family is educated except I. I hope to be like them soon,” she said.