Old woman goes to school for first time

A 76-year-old Emirati woman from Khor Fakkan went to school for the first time to fulfill a dream she had when she was a child.

Hanoon Khaif Mohammed, a mother and grandmother with an offspring of 13 boys and girls, joined classes at the local Jumana adult education centre, where her daughters in law are also studying.

Born in Khor Fakkan on Mach 16, 1935, Hanoon said she had always dreamed of studying but could not do so in the absence of schools at that time.

“I have had this dream of studying for long, long years but was unable to fulfill it…I have now fulfilled it,” she told Alittihad newspaper.

“What encouraged me is that I want to read the Koran and that all my daughters in law are studying at this centre.”

The paper quoted Ahmed al Mansouri, director of the Sharjah education department in Khor Fakkan, as saying Hanoon is the oldest Emirati citizen to join classes. He said another Emirati, the 72-year-old Mufleh al Dahouri, has just passed the first class in Diba al Husn

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