Urmila was married at the age of 16 and came to Mumbai as a young bride. She belonged to a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh where girls were not allowed to attend schools. They were expected to look after younger siblings and learn how to cook and clean the house.

The CHWs of Child Eye care Charitable Trust conduct Adult Literacy classes for women like Urmila in the community of Valnai, Orlem. They go door to door every afternoon in the community and sensitise the women to the disadvantages of being illiterate. They then motivate these women to learn reading and writing.

Urmila had never held a pencil in her entire life. She told the CHWs that her young children often made fun of her as she could not read and write. Her husband would not allow her to step outside the house since she was not able to read sign boards or bus numbers. She was also not given any money as she could not count and the vegetable vendors had duped her on two previous occasions. She was completely dependent on either her children or husband for even writing a letter to her brother back in the village. When Urmila was asked to join the adult literacy class in the community, she declined saying that she was too old and would not be able to learn new things. She also believed that her family would make fun of her if they came to know about it.

Over the next few days, Urmila saw women older than her starting to read and write, by attending the literacy classes. She then shyly approached the CHWs once again and expressed her desire to learn.
Within a week, Urmila was scribbling her name on a black slate with a small piece of chalk with trembling hands. This increased her self confidence and she started attending the class every afternoon. She then learned how to write her husband’s and children’s names. When her children came to know that their mother was learning to write, they too started encouraging her and introduced her to new words and names.

With the support of her family and the guidance of the CHWs at the community center, Urmila can now read and write in Hindi - her mother tongue. She is now in charge of buying the groceries from the market every week. Since she can now read the names of destinations on the bus, she travels to the market every week situated at a distance of 4 km from her house. She can also count money and is no longer duped by the vendors at the market.

Urmila with her name scribbled on a slate
in Hindi