Encouraging senior citizens to get educated

A Saudi woman has proven the old saying 'better late than never' by going back to school at the age of 110. According to the media, Nawda Al-Qahtani, aged 110, returned to her studies with the help of Al-Rahwa Centre in the kingdom's Umwah area. Her 60-year old son takes her to school every day and waits there until she completes classes. This unprecedented incident made everyone in Nawda's family happy. And her story inspires us to go for schooling forgetting whatever one's age is. Actually, everyone has the right to education. Maybe sometimes people cannot go to school during their childhood because of a remote location, poverty or family issues. Once they realise the importance of education, there should be arrangements for them to study.
The social work of helping adults get educated or literate was once very popular in Bangladesh. Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE), a government entity, works for the adults' literacy. There are many illiterate people around us. If we could motivate them for studies and create an atmosphere for the eradication of illiteracy that would be a great step. School, college and university students, and also interested people, can be involved in such voluntary work in their area. Well-off people can come forward and arrange some space for setting up such centres. The elderly may feel shy, but it is the duty of society to encourage them. Even the government and non-government school authorities should let the elderly people use classrooms. Campaign in all forms of the media - electronic, social and print - would also be helpful in this regard.
MA Islam,
Dhanmondi, Dhaka