Aajibaichi Shaala: 'Grandmother School' is teaching Indian women over 60 how to read and write

Situated in the village of Fangane, Aajibaichi Shaala teaches elderly women – six days a week, for two hours in just one room – to read during afternoon classes.

Aajibaichi Shaala is not your ordinary school in India in that one of the few requirements is that all students are at least 60 years old. Known as 'Grandmother School', Aajibaichi Shaala is situated in the village of Fangane in Maharashtra and teaches elderly women to read during afternoon classes in one room six days a week for two hours.

Lessons are timed so the women can finish their chores, or their work in the fields, before attending class. The school uses teaching aids such as the alphabet painted on tiles which can be read by students with poor eyesight. Many of the aids are made by the students. Clad in pink saris, their school uniform, the women walk every afternoon along dusty village paths to their lessons.

"First I finish all my house work, then I go to school. It's good we have this in our village," 70-year-old Drupada Pandurangkedar told Reuters. Her eight-year-old granddaughter studies in the government primary school in Fangane.

India's literacy rate grew to 74% in the decade to 2011, according to the latest census, but female literacy continued to lag the rate for males by a wide margin. About 65% of women were found to be literate, compared with 82% of men, according to the 2011 report.

Education experts and researchers have cited outdated attitudes toward women, including a preference for male children over females, and child marriages as the main reasons for the lower female literacy rate.

At Aajibaichi, afternoon classes in the one-room school are held six days a week for two hours. The lessons are timed so the women can finish their chores, or their work in the fields, before attending class.

"My knees hurt, so I can't sit on the floor for long. That's the only problem. But I still go every day," Keshavtupange told Reuters. Sheetal Prakash More, their 30-year-old teacher, said she would like to see women in other villages get the same access to education. "Every other teacher teaches children. Only I have the opportunity to teach elderly women," More said. "It's a great opportunity and I am very happy to teach them."