A 92-year-old Indian woman, he went to school for the first time six months ago and finally managed to read and write, becoming an inspiration to other women in her village as well, according to reports in the local press today.

Salima Khan, born in 1931 and married at the age of 14, two years before India’s independence in 1947, she always dreamed of being able to read and write. When she was a child, there was no school in her village.

Six months ago, accompanied on the way to school by her grandson’s wife in Bhulansar, in the state of Uttar Pradesh (north), she finally started classes alongside students at least eight decades younger than her.

Khan’s story gained attention after a video was released on social media in which she counted from 1 to 100.

“My grandchildren used to trick me into giving them more money because I didn’t know how to count notes,” she told the Times of India newspaper. “Those days are over.”

India’s literacy rate is around 73%, according to the 2011 census.

“Her story reinforces the belief that there is no age limit for the pursuit of knowledge,” Lakshmi Pandey, an education agency official, told AFP. Volunteers involved in a government education-for-all initiative identified Khan as a potential student and encouraged her to enroll in the school, Pandey explained.

According to the school’s principal, Pratiba Sharma, the teachers were initially “wary” of the idea of ​​teaching Khan but were quickly won over by her “passion” for studying.

“We didn’t have the heart to refuse her,” Sharma told the Times of India.

After she enrolled in the school, 25 women in her village, including two of her daughters-in-law, also started taking literacy classes, according to Sharma.