Grannies at School - Anniversary

Every afternoon, the grandmothers of Phangane village wrap pink saris around themselves and slip abacuses and chalkboard into their backpacks.They are going to school.

They live in Maharashtra state in India, a country where women are nearly a third less likely than men to be able to read and write.

Some of them have trouble with seeing the letters, and others feel chest pain when they talk.
But every day except Thursday, these women gather to learn from a teacher less than half their age.
International Women's Day 2017 is the one-year anniversary of the school, and photographer Satyaki Ghosh has been documenting the women's journey to literacy.

                            
Yogendra Bangar, is the founder of the school.

He started it after women in the village told him that if only they could read, they would be able to read about the life of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a 17th century king whose life is celebrated in the village every year.
"It is said that women have to be respected on Women's Day, so we thought that our grandmothers, who until now have not received respect, shall finally get the respect they deserve," he says.
"The people of our grandmothers' generation did not get any opportunity to go to school."