It's never too late to learn, says 50-year-old Nigerian school pupil

Shade Ajayi, 50, stands up during class at Ilorin Grammar School in Ilorin, Kwara state, March 25, 2021. Ajayi intends to continue her education for four more years, saying it will help her business. "People around me can read and write and they are succeeding in their businesses," she said. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

ILORIN, Nigeria (Reuters) - Shade Ajayi had never set foot in a classroom until middle age. Now 50, the businesswoman is happily learning to read and write alongside students nearly four decades younger than her.

Donning the pink dress and bonnet that make up her uniform, she joins hundreds of similarly dressed pupils at a school in Ilorin, in Nigeria's western Kwara state.