They said they want to study so that they can independently carry out daily activities like simple mathematics, using mobiles, reading newspapers, recognize bus numbers and so on. [break]
Forty-eight years old Kamala Koirala said small kids made fun of her when she went to a boarding school one day. “Throughout the class I sat on the last bench. I could not see anything written on the blackboard. When I sat in the front, kids complained that they did not see the black board. There are only problems for us in regular school,” she shared her experience.
She said it was a little fun and mire unease to study with small children and that is why the government should open separate school for adults like her.
She thinks that the adult education program launched by the government was worthless. Rather than the government should spend money used in adult education program to open schools for the adults.
Seventy-year-old Uttam Kumari Gautam agrees with Kamala. She says the adult education teachers do not conduct the classes seriously. She added that adult education classes do more harm than benefit the adults.
“Though it is said that age is no bar for study, the environment is not very comfortable to study with small children,” said 60-year-old Pabitra Chand.
Forty-three-year-old Yeshoda Shahi, who had dropped out at Grade III, wishes to go to school in school dress if the government opened a separate school for women like her.
Chand says adult education class is worthless for her, she feels ashamed to go to regular school for children and there is no separate school for women like her.
An NGO has been running literacy classes for the women in the village for the last two months. Though over 500 women had registered their names for the program, only 35 are regularly attending the classes.
The women had even reached district education office to hand a memo demanding a separate school for them. However, the authorities concerned are yet to act on their demand. And, there is no sign that the wish of these mothers is going to be fulfilled anytime soon.
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