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We must hear what people say themselves about their priorities…
This is the story of Maria, a trainee in the third age, who participated in an E-Literacy Program for Old People of Larissa- Learning City:
“The computer learning program helped us first of all to get into the new way of life that doesn’t leave you in isolation, because it gives you the opportunity to participate actively and be more useful to yourself first of all. You learn, your spirit opens, see things that you didn’t know. For example, when you surf on the internet you see cultures from other countries, you communicate with new friends. I could never have imagined that I would be home and see my girlfriend sitting in her house, drinking coffee or talking on Facebook, solving problems, expressing our opinion freely, having a step into society, because it is very important to engage in a public discussion without having to move and get tired. Also in this difficult situation of quarantine because of the corona-virus, it was very important to see your children and grandchildren via the internet, to be able to make your purchases and payments online. It is a great satisfaction to learn at this age. In other words, I believe that this program at this time, to the people who attended it, has given a great joy, has given confidence, has given life. At this difficult situation it seems as the best thing for me, it was a gift from God.”I agree with Anna that it is important to identify the gaps in digital inclusion especially for the vulnerable groups. I am the Chairman of the City Council of Larissa (Greece) and we try a lot to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in city activities. The most of these activities are based on the philosophy of a Learning City and the majority of them are free. But this is not enough. We have to change, at first, the ideas, the culture of the stuff, how they understand the needs of the vulnerable groups. How they plan for them. And I must say that these efforts have a lot of surprises.
In the case of computer literacy courses to the elderly, it is noteworthy that at first we had only 15 applications. 6 months later more than 500 new applications were applied leading to the creation of 6 new classes. The elderly gained very useful computer skills that turned out necessary in the middle of the corona-virus crisis.
