Seventy one year old Bedriye Kışlakçı is learning to read and write through courses offered by the Ministry of National Education's "Life Long Learning Program" in eastern Turkey's Bingöl province.
Kışlakçı learned the Quran last year, and this year she is taking the reading course at the Public Education Center in the Martyr Mustafa Gündoğdu Primary School because of the difficulty she experiences in daily life from not knowing how to read.
Going up to the board like the other students, Kışlakçı, despite her age, has become an example to everyone through her determination to learn how to read and write.
Through the course, the mother of six and grandmother of six hopes to overcome the problems she has faced because of illiteracy.
Kışlakçı explained to Anadolu Agency that she grew up in a village without a school, and that only the boys were sent to the city to receive an education at that time.
"Parents didn't send their daughters to school," she explained, adding that growing up she was surrounded by women who could not read or write.
Expressing the difficulties she has faced because she is illiterate, Kışlakçı said, "Someone will call me, but I don't know who the caller is. When I go to the hospital, I do not know which doctor to go and see. I go to the market and I can't read the labels. If the minibus is coming, I don't know what line it is."
But the 71-year old is optimistic about her prospects of learning how to read after attending the Quran course last year.
"Reading knows no age," she added, "I want everyone to come and learn how to read and write."
The Lifelong Learning Program offers courses across Turkey and aims to offer new basic skills to people of all ages.
