TEAM Pnoy senatorial candidate today urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to design a program for the continuing education of people over 60 so they will not become easy targets for fraud and financial scams.
Angara said some senior citizens have huge fortunes and substantial savings account that is why unscrupulous people have started targeting them.
Also, older people from poor communities are more vulnerable to text, lottery and pyramiding scams because of their trusting nature and their desire to earn money, he said.
According to Angara, DepEd should develop training modules and supervise the implementation of continuing training for the aging sector to encourage their participation in the community,prevent them from falling prey to scammers, and improve quality of life.
“We can take steps to help prevent them from being fleeced or swindled,” said the lawmaker from Aurora. “We have to provide a wide variety of educational options for the elderly people,” Angara said.
Under Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, the DepED, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), in consultation with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) for senior citizens, shall institute programs that will ensure access to formal and nonformal education. Angara was the author of this law.
He said that participants can choose between seminar or workshop activities on various topics such as art, history, computing and memory, or even educational activities such as courses on computer usage and talks that can contribute to the knowledge of specific aging-related topics.
Angara said that retired but still abled personnel and senior volunteers could be recruited to help promote these programs to inspire their peers to interact more with society.