With Pink Sarees & School Bags, These Grandmothers in Their 60s Walk to Class Daily To Learn ABCs

Imagine walking past a small village classroom and seeing students reciting the alphabet, solving basic math problems, and giggling over nursery rhymes. Now imagine that the “students” are all grandmothers — women in their 60s, 70s and even 90s.

It may sound surprising at first, but this is exactly what happens at Aajibaichi Shala, India’s first school dedicated to educating elderly rural women who never had the chance to attend school in their childhood. What began as a simple idea has grown into a powerful reminder that learning truly has no age limit.

A school where the students are grandmothers

Located in Phangane village in Maharashtra’s Thane district, Aajibaichi Shala is unlike any other classroom in the country. Every student here is a woman aged 60 years or older, many of whom spent their lives working in fields, raising families, and managing households, often without ever stepping into a school.

The school was launched on March 8, 2016, International Women’s Day, with around 28 grandmothers enrolling as its very first batch.

Classes run for a couple of hours each afternoon after the women finish their household chores. Dressed in bright pink sari uniforms, the grandmothers walk to school carrying their bags, slates and chalk, ready for a lesson just like any other students.

Inside the classroom, they learn to read and write in Marathi, practise basic arithmetic, sing rhymes, draw, and sometimes even tend to small plants in the school garden.

The idea that began with a simple wish

The story of Aajibaichi Shala began with a moment of quiet realisation.

The school’s founder, Yogendra Bangar, a local Zilla Parishad teacher, noticed something during a village celebration of Shivaji Jayanti. While people were reading passages about the Maratha king, several elderly women watching nearby confessed that they wished they could read those words themselves.

That one comment sparked a powerful thought: what if these grandmothers could go to school now?

With support from the Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust and help from the village community, Bangar turned that idea into reality.

The goal was simple yet profound — to give elderly women the opportunity they had been denied as girls.

From thumbprints to signatures

For many students at Aajibaichi Shala, the classroom represents more than just learning letters and numbers. It represents dignity.

Several of the grandmothers once relied on thumb impressions for official documents. Today, many can proudly sign their own names, read small passages, and help their grandchildren with homework.

Some students walk to school on their own, while others are accompanied by their grandchildren — a touching reversal of roles where children sometimes help their grandmothers with homework.

For women who spent decades prioritising their families over themselves, these small milestones carry deep emotional meaning.

More than a classroom

Beyond literacy, Aajibaichi Shala has quietly transformed lives.Education has brought the grandmothers confidence, independence and a renewed sense of purpose.

The initiative has also helped raise awareness about hygiene, social issues, and everyday tasks like banking or reading signs — skills that allow these women to navigate the world more independently.

In many ways, the classroom has become a space where these women rediscover curiosity, laughter and companionship, things often missing from later years of life.

The story of elderly women becoming literate may seem simple at first, but it carries many deeper layers. It strengthens our hope that learning does not belong to childhood alone, that dreams do not fade with age, and that sometimes the courage to begin again becomes life’s most meaningful lesson.

Aajibaichi Shala reminds us that education is not only about degrees or careers. At its heart, it is about dignity, confidence, and the simple joy of discovering that it is never too late to learn.

Sources: 

‘This is the Aajibaichi Shala – the Indian school for grandmothers’: by World Economic Forum, Published on 8 March 2017.

‘Aajibaichi Shala: Inside the unique school of India where students are in their 60s, 70s and 80s’: by Rajni Pandey for MoneyControl, Published on 17 October 2025. 

‘Maharashtra grandmothers are going to school, in pink saris, singing nursery rhymes’: by Jayati Saha for The Print, Published on 11 July 2022.

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