NEW DELHI: When the morning newspaper arrives at her home in Tiruvanchoor village in Kottayam district, 104-year-old Kuttiyamma Konthi carefully studies it from front to back – a luxury unimaginable until a few months ago, when she fulfilled her dream of learning . Did. read and write.
All her life, Konthi, the youngest daughter of illiterate, landless farm laborers from a marginalized community, knew that education was a passion she would not be able to pursue in her early years. As a teenager, she married an Ayurvedic chemist and raised five children.
“In the beginning life was harsh and survival was the only concern in those days,” Conti told Arab News. “Education was beyond our means and imaginations and social standing.”
Decades later, while caring for her 10 grandchildren, she learned the alphabet of her native Malayalam – the language spoken in the south Indian state of Kerala – but not enough to read.
Help came unexpectedly when his 34-year-old neighbor, Rehna John, found out about his dream.
A literacy teacher, John began giving Conti the alphabet books and the two met every evening to review progress, which was faster than expected.
“Of all the literacy students I’ve ever taught, he’s the brightest,” said John. “She managed to complete all the courses in three months, which were supposed to last a year.”
Konthi’s achievement was recognized in November when she scored 89/100 in the state literacy test and Kerala Education Minister V. Shivankutty announced his test results on social media saying “age in the world of knowledge”. There is no barrier to entry.”
Conti can now enter her fourth year of elementary school – a new chapter she looks forward to.
“It makes me happy that I can study,” she said. “I never let my dream die, and I want to live this dream.”
She also credits her good health for being active. Apart from some hearing and vision loss, the centenarian student doesn’t complain of any ailments and says: “If you don’t sit idle and keep yourself busy, it keeps you fit and healthy.”
Their morning engagement, today, is Kerala Kaumudi, a local Malayalam-language broadsheet, before doing housework.
“I actually find newspapers and read whatever is published there,” she said. “It’s a habit for me and makes me feel good.”