Techno-savvy senior citizens

MUMBAI, July 22: They are not exactly grappling with the basics of the three `R’s, but they are definitely neo-literates with a difference. This group of senior citizens, is taking their first hesitant steps towards working on computers. Participants in a project undertaken by Dignity Dialogue, a magazine for senior citizens and NIIT, the men and women between the age groups of 47 and 65 were awarded their convocation certificates on Saturday.

“Many employers who would like to hire senior citizens are unable to do so since they do not have working knowledge of computers,” says Dr Sheilu Sreenivasan, editor, Dignity Dialogue. Subsequently, Sreenivasan tied up with NIIT, the computer education institute, which offered to train elderly cyber enthusiasts at discounted fees. At the end of the two month course, the students were also given coupons entitling them to 26 hours of free hands-on computer experience. In all, 14 persons signed up for the course which gave them working knowledge of Windows `95, MS DOS, MS Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and the Internet.

“On my first day, I said Windows `95 was the number of windows in Bill Gates’ villa,” laughs Aruna Nair, executive assistant at Dignity Dialogue. “When I joined Dignity, there were more computers than people,” she says about her decision to familiarize herself with computers. N Modi, a retired businessman with interests in office automation, needed to join the course before he could work up enough courage to tinker with his office computer.

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“I had read a lot on computers earlier, though I used only a digital diary before I joined this course,” says Modi. He sounds ecstatic of his first experience with the Net. “I want to learn enough about computers so that I can be a networking consultant. After all, the future lies in networking, to stand alone is to die alone,” says Modi.

Elated by its success, Dignity Dialogue is talking to Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd in order to make Internet facilities available at a discount for senior citizens. “We have just met the managing director of VSNL and submitted a note to him,” says Sreenivasan.