Is it ever too old to go back to primary school? Ruth Kangongoi gives us her take on education for the elderly
 
Many African countries lack institutions capable of supporting a lifelong process of education, including the elderly.

Today, the elderly have increasingly known and felt the need of education due to the increase of technological and economic demands and changes in society.

The strengthening of the community of solidarity  requires not only the promotion of older and younger people’s learning about each other, but especially the transfer of experience and knowledge among the older people of different countries.

In my opinion, this should be considered in the East African Community mission and objectives.

Education for the elderly contributes to connecting experiences and the capacity of elderly people to cope with their situation with up to date knowledge and with new strategies for possible solutions.

The question is, "are the old women and men willing to go to school, would they take education as a tool to solve some of their problems?”

In 2002, Kenya’s NARC government offered free primary education for the first time in the country and almost every one who had not gone to school enrolled for primary education including the elderly.

Few years down the line and almost all have dropped apart from one famous 85 year old "Kimani  Maruge.”

Now that English has been introduced in the schools, it would be a noble thing as well for the government to provide means in which the elderly can also access such education.

Rwanda is among the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. Widows, elderly grandparents and children have become head of the house for most of the affected families. Their earnings are not sufficient to cover all their needs.

Their dependants are not fed properly and have no access to health care or education. We can all agree that a person who is educated can manage his or her family better as far as decision making is concerned.

Governments need to promote and implement comprehensive support programs for HIV/AIDS affected families in order to reduce the negative impact of HIV among their most vulnerable citizens.

Specially trained teachers should be assigned for this course because it is not easy for a grown up who has never set foot in a class to start learning and also not easy for the teachers as well.

In the today world where almost everything is becoming computerized, it will be very important for each and every person to be computer literate.

It is clear that in the future most likely people will not be needing money anymore due to the use of credit cards and for them that have no clue about this, the world will be space to them and to the world they will be like aliens.

Education Seminars and programmes should be set up in the country’s villages where illiteracy is most hit and also use the media as a medium of advertisement. The media plays a very big role in the society either positive or negative.

It is for the media to take the right initiative and introduce programmes that encourage adult education in the country. Educating adults differs from educating children in several ways.

One of the most important differences is that adults have accumulated knowledge and experience that can add to or hinder the learning experience.

Another difference is that most adult education is voluntary; therefore, the participants are generally better motivated.

Adults frequently apply their knowledge in a practical fashion to learn effectively. They must have a reasonable expectation that the knowledge recently gained will help them further their goals.

One example, common in the 1990s, was the proliferation of computer training courses in which adults (not children or adolescents), most of whom were office workers, could enroll.

These courses would teach basic use of the operating system or specific application software. Because the abstractions governing the user’s interactions with a PC were so new, many people who had been working white-collar jobs for ten years or more eventually took such training courses, either at their own whim to gain computer skills and thus earn higher pay.

A working adult is unlikely to have the freedom to simply quit his or her job and go "back to school” full time. Public school systems and community colleges usually offer evening or weekend classes for this reason.

In Europe this is often referred to as "second-chance”, and many schools offer tailor-made courses and learning programs for these returning learners.

Those adults who read at the very lowest level get help from volunteer literacy programs. Another fast-growing sector of adult education is English for Speakers of Other Languages also referred to as English as a Second Language or English Language Learners.

These courses are the key in assisting immigrants with the acquisition of the English language. A difference is made between vocational education, mostly undertaken in workplaces and frequently related to up skilling, and non-formal adult education including learning skills or learning for personal development.

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