An Indian great-grandmother aged 92 has learned to read and write after going to school for the first time and inspiring others to join her, media and officials said on Wednesday.
Salima Khan, born in around 1931 and who was married at the age of 14 — two years before the end of British colonial rule in India — had a lifelong dream of being able to read and write.
Khan, from Bulandshahr in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said there were no schools in her village when she was a girl. Six months ago, she began studying alongside pupils eight decades younger than her, and she is accompanied on her way to class by her grandson’s wife. Her story emerged after a video of her counting from one to 100 went viral on social media.
“My grandchildren used to trick me into giving them extra money as I couldn’t count currency notes,” she was quoted as saying by the Times of India.—AFP
