As part of efforts to sensitise children towards the problems of old people,schools in the region are increasingly making students spend ample time with the elderly and are seeing it as a new aspect to moral education. Under HelpAge Indias School Advocacy and Value Education (SAVE) program,students in some of the schools pay regular visits to nearby old age homes and even take their grandparents to their institutions during their monthly guardian-teacher meet. Speaking to Newsline,Mathew Cherian,Chief Executive Officer of HelpAge India,said,In India,over 90 million people are aged above 60 years and the number is likely to reach 326 million by 2050. A majority of the people falling in this age group are finding themselves marginalised without the support of family and social security. In the first phase of SAVE we have started with few such activities where children get to spend quality time with their grandparents and other old people. An individual spends the formative years of his life in school. Through this program,we aim at inculcating values of care and respect for the elderly people in school going children who can then become ambassadors of these old people. More than physical care,the elderly require psychological satisfaction which can only be ensured through interaction, he added. Making friends with the elderly at old age homes,some of the SAVE volunteers have even started addressing them as Dadiji (Grandmother) and Dadaji (Grandfather). Ankita Prashar,SAVE coordinator at Bhawan Vidyalaya in Panchkula said,When we first told our student volunteers about their visit to the old age home,they were a little confused about it. But now,having met the elderly people there various times they have developed a sense of affection for them. They have even started considering them as their grandparents. The other schools where the project is being launched this month include Ryan International School,Sector 49,DAV Public School Sector 8,Shivalik Public School Sector 41,Kedriya Vidyalaya Sector 31 and 47.
