A fifty-year-old woman, Madam Paulina Anim, who at her age has decided to go back to school, is fast becoming a celebrity as well as a role model to children in her community. Madam Anim is in class four at the Weweso L/A Primary School in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and although her case is not peculiar as there have been many such examples, - some even older than her who are going back to school - it is more her motive that is making her a source of inspiration for the young people in her community. Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem in an exclusive interview with Adakabre Frimpong Manso on Thursday morning, Madam Paulina Anim said she went to school because she is worried about the high rate of illiteracy among the youth in her town and elsewhere. She explained that she never stepped into a classroom and when she turned 15, she thought that she was too old to start school so she never heeded her mother’s prodding to do so. She said when she decided to go to school, she realised she had left things a little too late and missed so many opportunities; opportunities she would never have missed if she had attained some education, saying she faced a lot of difficulty due to her illiteracy. Madam Anim said her own failings made her embark on the crusade to encourage the children in her community to take education seriously. She would gather them around her and advise them on the importance of education. However during those times, she discovered that the children had the same problems she had when she was young – fearing they were too old to go to school. That finally firmed her decision to go to school to show and inspire the children to realise that they can still get education no matter how old they are. “ According to Madam Anim, she is extremely excited about school and that whenever she wears her uniform and sits in the classroom, her happiness knows no bounds. With classmates as young as 8 years, she says she’s least bothered, rather she sees an opportunity to use her seniority to admonish them. She is a widow with four children who are all in school; three in Senior High School with one having completed Junior High School and she says seeing them through school is very difficult since she is their sole source of support. She appealed to philanthropists to assist her children to complete the school so that they can become better individuals. Her appeal yielded an immediate response as many phoned-in to pledge support. She is urging the youth not to lose hope, but be obedient and have the confidence to go to school because it is not too late for them. Story: Adomonline/Ghana