All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has taken an initiative known as ‘Intergenerational Learning Centre’ under which retired senior citizens teach underprivileged children at selected government schools in the Delhi-NCR area.

The aim of the initiative was to bridge the solitude gap between elderly and young ones. The programme is the brain child of Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Assistant Professor at Department of Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS.

As a pilot project, the initiative was implemented in two government-run schools — Purba Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Noida Sector-12, and Kerala Education Society Senior Secondary School, R K Puram, Sector-8.

Under the initial stage, 40 students of Class six were selected from each school on the basis of a questionnaire that contains 30 questions. As many as 40 bright students from Noida school and 40 mediocre students from Kerala school were selected.

Talking with the Statesman, Dr Chatterjee said the programme would not only provide meaningful engagement to elderly but also empower deprived school children.

Twenty senior citizens from each local area were selected for teaching purpose. However, these elderly, who once was banker, architect, lawyer, must hold a graduation degree as minimum qualification. A workshop on teaching was also provided to them.

Started in July 2017, the project was funded by Union Ministry of Culture and would be extended to other parts of the country.

Under the project, senior citizens daily hold classes for two hours, where they teach arts, yoga, reading, speaking and other skills to students along with their homework. These classes are provided in addition to their school hours.

Dr Chatterjee said that preliminary analysis of the initiative showed positive outcomes on senior citizen’s health.

“While the social integration of elderly and schoolchildren improves depression, hypertension and other diseases among ageing people, it has also enhanced self-esteem, confidence to express feelings and thoughts unhesitatingly, aspiration to achieve their goals in students,” noted Dr Chatterjee.

Dr Chatterjee, pointing a report, said there are 85,000 school dropouts in Delhi last year. And the ratio of teacher and students in the government schools revealed that there was only one teacher for 150 students.