A woman in India learned to read and write at the age of 104

Kuttiyamma He always wanted to learn to read. But her parents were very poor and she needed to cook and take care of the house and her eleven siblings.

Today – at the age of 104 – an elderly woman living in Thiruvananthapur village in Kerala, South India has achieved this feat: more every morning as i told BBC it is from GuardianTake advantage of the local Malayala Manorama newspaper.

“I wanted to study and be a teacher – she told reporters who visited her at her house – But it was inappropriate for a woman to go to school at that time Boys also dropped out of school at the age of nine. ,

Then, when she was 16, she married TK Konthi, who owned a small herbal medicine shop. Kutiyama raised five children and is now a great-grandmother.

The desire to crown this old dream came back to him Watching grandchildren do their homework: “I took a look at his books, but I didn’t understand one thing.”

The children study in English, while the Kutiyamama speak only the local language, Malay. At the time, Rehana John, a neighbor working as a teacher, learned of her concern and told her about it. A government program to eradicate illiteracy among the elderly: “So I took the books and started reading with her,” he says.

Unsteady in legs and bent over the years, Kuttimma not only learned to read in one year, But she got a deep “school report”: In the National Literacy Test, he scored 89 out of 100.

A discovery was praised in a tweet by the Kerala Education Department: age is not a barrier to knowledge, With all due respect and love, I extend my best wishes to Kotiyama and all the other students. ,

“It was not difficult – they say – and now I want to try my luck in English.” Study continues.