Ankur Desai

Groups of around 20 women are taught by a teacher at a learning centre.

This is usually a spare tin roof building in the area.

It's difficult to find qualified teachers in this remote region, so Friendship accepts women who've attended school up to the age of 13 and then provides them with extra training.

We don't have a permanent structure to take our classes in, so we rent a room in a house in the village for a year.

The room has to be big enough to fit 20 students.

We start with the basics, introducing them to the alphabet.

We have a flip chart with lots of pictures on it from daily life to help them learn.

From there we teach them words and then sentences.

You have no value in society without education.

There are lots of social issues like child marriage and domestic violence, and education therefore is important to give you knowledge about your rights.

Floods are pretty common in the area, so if there is one, Shabna splits her students into small groups and then visits them separately in turn.

One of her current students is Rashida, who has been attending classes for two months.

My parents never sent me to school and I've suffered from not being able to read and write.

My children were embarrassed that I was illiterate.

I couldn't even do basic accounting.

Until now, I've had to use my fingerprint as a signature as I was illiterate.

But now I can sign my name because I can read and write the alphabet and I'll also be able to keep an account of my expenses.

No one can cheat me anymore.

Jahura recently graduated from the class.

When I go and buy something on the market, I can read whatever is on the packet.