92-Yr-Old Granny Joins School for 1st Time in UP,  May Create World Record

A great-grandmother of 92 years has joined school for the first time in her life to learn to read and write. It is her effort to inspire others to ignore age and start education.

This inspiring woman is Salima Khan of Bulandshahr. Born in 1931, she got married at the age of 14 during the British rule in 1945. As there were no schools in her village during her childhood, she could not get educated. But she had a desire to study one day, which she fulfilled at an extremely advanced age.

She joined a school six months back and started attending classes with pupils eight decades younger than her.

Recently a video of her counting from one to 100 went viral on social media.

Volunteers from a government education initiative had identified Khan as a potential student and encouraged her to go to school, local education officer Lakshmi Pandey told AFP.

Her school headmistress Pratibha Sharma said teachers had been initially “hesitant” about admitting Khan, but they had to change their minds because of her “passion” for studying.

Since she went to school, 25 women from her village have also started literacy classes, including two of Khan’s daughters-in-law.

Khan is expected to create a new Guinness World Record as the record book lists the late Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge from Kenya as the oldest person to complete primary school, having enrolled in 2004 when he was aged 84.