Hailing from Chyangli VDC-6, Gorkha district, Khatri has been living in Damauli to help look after her granddaughter who is currently studying in Grade IV. The child has been left under Khatri´s lone control since her daughter-in-law returned to her village after becoming employed at a local school as a teacher.
Khatri regrets not studying during her childhood, her frustrations becoming apparent when she is forced to use her thumbprint to receive her granddaughter´s result sheet. "I was married at an early age. I could have been literate at least if I had somehow tried to study," she said. "But I felt laziness about it then."
Though all her children are highly educated, Khatri did not even know the Nepali alphabets. "I have hardly been able to handle a pen and read and write the alphabets," she said. "I do not know to dial a telephone number on my own yet."
Santosh Pokharel
Similar is the pain of 40-year old Ambika Sunuwar, who dares not visit new places alone. Like Khatri, she must depend on others to dial a telephone number. "I regret for failing to study despite parents wanting me to go to school," she said. "Now there is no more a chance of getting a job. But things would have been much easier if I could learn to read and write."
Women in Damauli have started attending adult literacy classes as per the government´s policy to make all people in the country literate. The classes are run for two hours a day at a local Ban Batika.
Altogether 30 women aged between 40 and 60 years have enrolled in the adult literacy center. However, they often do not regularly attend the school.
The government has included people between the ages of 15 and 60 years in the adult literacy campaign. Many women who never had the chance to study during their childhood have shown interest in the classes.