Baglung: Every morning after completing her early household chores, 45-year-old Gauri Maya BK of Bhimpokhara VDC-9, Baglung district, heads for Shivalaya Primary School to attend classes. Besides staying home and waiting for her children to return, she is also busy now a days solving math problems, reading English passages and participating in march-pass sessions after school.

The group of mothers including BK all dressed in red khurtha and doing a march pass in the school compound is something to see and an inspiration for other students as well as teachers.

The credit goes to Shivalaya Primary School for running classes for the middle-aged mothers who wish to learn despite their age. The number of mothers attending regular classes from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. has now reached 20. They are studying in grades 1 and 2.

"Studying was a far cry for us while I was in my teens and these classes are like a dream come true. I never knew studying was such fun and I am loving it," said one of the mothers, Pabitra Sharma.

Taking to Republica, Kunti BK, another student-mother, said that all the mothers who are attending classes are very enthusiastic about learning more. "Before, I had to ask my children to dial the phone number when I had to make a call, but now numbers are no longer a mystery to me," said Kunti.

"After the cooking and cleaning, I feed and dress my children and we leave for school together at around half past nine in the morning," added Kunti.

According to principal of the school Bal Bahadur Bhandari, they have adjusted two separate rooms for the mothers, and besides regular subjects, their course of study emphasizes mostly agriculture and practical knowledge.

"The major motive behind these classes is to help educate all illiterate mothers. Becoming literate will give them confidence and employment opportunities also," said Bhandari.

"The rapid improvement shown by the mothers in reading and writing basic Nepali and solving general math problems has amazed us all," added Bhandari.

All the teachers engaged in teaching the mothers have been appointed and paid by the school itself. With just four appointed teachers, the school has hired four more private teachers to take the classes.
"As we didn´t receive any financial support for this we have run the classes at our own expense and until now we have been handling them pretty well," said Biddhapati Sharma, a teacher at the school.

"This is free education for the mothers; we charge nothing," added Sharma.

source: republica,1 June 2013