India's school for grannies - a place where older women reclaim their dignity

By Amrit Dhillon
Updated February 4 2017 - 12:08am, first published February 3 2017 - 11:09pm
80-year-old Ramabai Ganpat Khandakle is one of 30 elderly women who are going to school for the first time in their life in the Thane district, India.  Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
80-year-old Ramabai Ganpat Khandakle is one of 30 elderly women who are going to school for the first time in their life in the Thane district, India. Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
Older women attend school in Phangane village of Thane district. Most of them were deprived of a formal education as a child.  Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
Older women attend school in Phangane village of Thane district. Most of them were deprived of a formal education as a child. Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
70 year old Sevanta Shantaram Kedar poses for a photo in her school. Her family was too poor to send her to school when she was growing up.  Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
70 year old Sevanta Shantaram Kedar poses for a photo in her school. Her family was too poor to send her to school when she was growing up. Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
7-year-old Sujal helps his grandmother, Kanta More, 65, with her schoolwork.  Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
7-year-old Sujal helps his grandmother, Kanta More, 65, with her schoolwork. Photo: Allison Joyce/Newslions
Older women attend school in Phangane village of Thane district. The school aims to empower the elderly women and break the stereotypes.  Photo: Allison Joyce/newslions
Older women attend school in Phangane village of Thane district. The school aims to empower the elderly women and break the stereotypes. Photo: Allison Joyce/newslions

Delhi: Ansuya Deshmukh recently realised her dream – to write her name. The name she has had her entire life but could not write because she never went to school. At 90, she's relieved she has managed it.

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