“Now I know how to read, and I can write about my village and my family,” says Mariyamma with a half-smile, her eyes sparkling with pride.

Since August 2019, Mariyamma and many other women from eight villages in the Adoni region have participated in a pilot literacy project for adults. Today, on World Literacy Day, they look back on how far they have come.

“I, like many others, never had the opportunity to go to school,” explains Mariyamma. At the age of seven, she started working in the fields. Since then, picking cotton and pulling weeds have become her only means of making a living. “I remember seeing other boys and girls from my town going to school every day. I begged my father to let me go,” she recollects.

Sudha, another woman in the class, and three of her sisters also did not receive an education. Their family did not have the money to send them to school.

There are thousands more women like them. According to the latest census data (2011), the Kurnool district has the second highest illiteracy rate in Andhra Pradesh: more than 40% of the population is illiterate, and 50% of women cannot read.

“When RDT came to our town and offered us the possibility to study I felt excited. I thought that the opportunity I never had before has finally arrived,” explains Mariyamma. “It was difficult, a great challenge, but I was so eager to learn that it did not discourage me. Since I was little, I dreamed of being able to read, and I was willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it.”

The adult literacy project is part of the Rural Development Trust (RDT)’s Mobile Libraries program that travels through various villages in the Kurnool district. The program teaches reading and writing through the Montessori Method. Bujjamma, the librarian in charge of the literacy sessions in the village of Yerigeri, says that she is “proud to be able to offer the tools that all women need to feel more courageous.”

Mariyamma’s family has been supportive, especially her eldest daughter, Meghana. They read together every night. Mariyamma, 26 years old, shows her daughter the importance of education and Meghana, aged seven, encourages her mother to read stories every day and to always keep learning.

“It makes me happy that my seven-year-old daughter encourages and helps me read. At her age, I started working in the fields, but now she can go to school and have a good education,” says Mariyamma.

Access to education allows women to actively participate in the country’s social, political, and cultural life and helps address the gender inequality that still persists in rural India. “Reading the newspaper allows me to know what is happening in the world,” explains Mariyamma. “If women know how to write and read, we no longer have to depend on anyone. We are self-sufficient.”

Sudha, who has also been attending adult literacy classes for a year now, firmly agrees. “Educating women is the first step towards their independence,” she adds.

Since classes have started, the women agree that they all feel more confident, more capable, and less afraid.

“Before, taking the bus or going to the market and making sure I received the correct change frightened me. Now, I am no longer afraid, I go wherever I want, and I don’t depend on anyone,”  says Mariyamma.

“I have never felt better. Now I’m not afraid of anything,” adds Sudha.

To all the women who never had an opportunity to study, Mariyamma has a Literacy Day message: “Age does not matter. It is never too late.”

Text by RDT. Adapted by VFF USA.