Education boost for China’s aged
Print Edition
IT’S never too late to learn, so the saying goes. And for China’s 230 million elderly, this is certainly the case.
Liu Wenzhi is just one example of how a grandmother mixes domestic life, ensuring the grandchildren get to school in the morning, before setting off to her place of education every day at 8:30am.
The 65-year-old attends Dezhou College for the Aged, in east China’s Shandong Province. It is one of 60,000 government -funded educational institutions for the elderly in China, that offers local seniors classes ranging from folk dance, calligraphy and Peking Opera to yoga and how to walk like a catwalk model.
Liu has studied traditional Chinese stringed instruments, the electronic piano, Peking Opera and paper-cutting.
“My life is busy but very rewarding,” said Liu, a former clerk in a public institution in Dezhou City. “Outside of work, people of my generation do not have hobbies.
“Our lives after retirement mainly focus on looking after grandchildren. The universities for the aged have changed everything.”
The world’s first university dedicated to the elderly was established in France in 1973. Ten years later, China set up a place of education for seniors in Shandong’s Jinan City.
China boasts around 60,000 elderly education institutions with more than 7 million silver-haired students, according to the China Association of Universities for the Aged. Due to longer life expectancy and declining fertility rates, the proportion of people above the age of 60 is growing faster than other age groups in many countries.
China is among those with the largest aging population in the world. The number of people over 60 reached 230 million, 16.7 percent of the country’s total population, at the end of 2016.
“I’m the first in my village to attend the elderly college,” said 63-year-old Yang Ruijun.
She began studying music in Dezhou College for the Aged last September, and has become a singing teacher in Sunhuayao Village where she lives.
“Helping others is helping myself,” said Yang. “I worked as a housewife and farmer for almost 40 years, doing housework and looking after children and grandchildren. When they grew up, I became old. But old age does not mean lonely and dull.”
School fees for elderly education institutions is affordable and study time is flexible for elderly people who want to study and fulfill their college dreams.
Classes at Dezhou College for the Aged cost only 80 yuan (US$12) per class, per term. Class is held between 8:30 to 10:30 in the morning and 2:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon.
“Picking up grandchildren will not be affected,” said Liu Wei, the college’s deputy head.
Shandong University for the Aged, China’s first university of its kind, offers modern classes, such as saxophone, spoken English, and software and smartphone use.
“The aim of elderly people is not only to learn. Through continuing study and upgrading knowledge in these schools, they will be better integrated into society and their sense of belonging will be boosted,” said Wang Zhifang, head of continuing education school at Shandong Provincial Institute of Education Sciences.
According to China’s development plan for elderly education (2016-2020), every city should have at least one university for the elderly, and 50 percent of towns should have schools for the elderly, while 30 percent of villages should have learning centers for the elderly by 2020.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
