The figure of aged workers in India has increased from 20 million in 1983 to 30 million in 2004- 2005, with over 80 per centum belonging to the rural countries and 23 per centum of the aged population in involved in work force engagement in 2004-2005 in the urban countries. The aged constitute 7 per centum of the entire on the job population in India.
Ageing is a many-sided concept affecting biological, physiological, organisational, societal, political, familial, communal, cultural and planetary features and it is hard to supply a condensed position of such an expansive paradigm. For practical intents people at the age of 60 are considered as ‘senior citizens ‘ and that is the general retirement age in India. However, as we are speaking about the class of ageing, the definition of an ripening worker is based around the clip that people start to see major alterations in their work life ( Illmarinen, 2001 ) . Therefore, the ageing worker here is identified as get downing from 45 to 50 old ages as that is by and large taken as the base standard ( Illmarinen, 2001 ) .
Harmonizing to the UNFPA study published in 2012, half of the aged population study that they have non had any formal instruction ( Selvaraj, Karan and Madheswaran, 2011 ) . Ladusingh and Narayana ( 2011 ) , study that the public support for instruction is chiefly consumed by the immature. India is in demand of establishments proficient in back uping a structured and formal life long procedure of acquisition, including the aged. A common agency of instruction for the aged is through registration into distance acquisition institutes. The Indira Gandhi National Open University ( IGNOU ) is one of the largest institutes providing to over four million distance scholars with 20 one schools of surveies across 60 seven regional centres and three 1000 learner support centres. Even with such an impressive record the aged pupil population seems to be minimum. In a survey conducted by Sivaswaroop ( 2001 ) in Hyderabad part of India it was found that out of 64884 pupils who enrolled in classs from 1991-2000 merely 72 were above the age of 55 which is a mere 0.11 % and out of these 72 merely 4 % were female. Consequently, the ageing population and their instruction is fast going one of the most popular societal issues of the current and future epoch.
The demographic alterations mean that the accomplishments and cognition of the older workers need to be developed and utilised. As supported by the informations many older workers are at the tallness of their bearers and non at the terminal of it. It has been found that the aged, who work, do it on a full clip footing for a lower limit of six months of the twelvemonth and this comes from a necessity to gain an income ( UNPFA, 2011 ) . Therefore, a bulk of the older work force expects to go on working even after the estimated retirement period. This suggests that developing the accomplishment degrees of older workers will hold benefits for the aged, employers and society likewise. Contrary to popular belief, although the aged work force experiences alterations in reaction clip and perceptual accomplishments, other skill countries such as memory, job resolution, creativeness, general intelligence, societal accomplishments, the ability to get by with emphasis can be maintained and even improved through preparation and instruction ( Dworschak, Buck & A ; Schletz, 2006 ) . Skill mismatch is identified as one of the primary factors impacting the ability of older workers to execute efficaciously and fruitfully, ( Cedefop, 2010 ) and the cognitive diminution in older workers is seen as a consequence of being out of pattern and is rather reversible ( Foster, 2008 ) . Older grownups tend to execute better on undertaking necessitating crystallized intelligence than younger grownups. Crystallized intelligence includes the cognition and accomplishments accumulated throughout one ‘s life-time. Older people perform better on this through verbal abilities and judgement ( Merriam, 2001 ) . General consensus among research workers is that although the aged may hit lower on undertakings related to fluid intelligence, these tonss can be improved and their public presentation can make parallel degrees to that of younger grownups one time developing intercessions are provided for work outing schemes ( Baltes et. al. , 1993 ; Garcia-Berben, 1995, Calero, and Garcia-Berben, 1997 ) .
The institutes that offer developing to the aged population is popularly referred to as University of the Third age or U3A and the instruction that they receive can be divided into two wide classs viz. through ego preparation and through coach guided preparation ( Calero and Garcia-Berben, 1997 ) . It has been seen that the aged group with high educational degrees benefit greatly from both the ego preparation paradigm and the coach guided paradigm and the group with low educational degree benefits greatly from coach guided preparation paradigm. The concluding behind this that higher the educational degree, the more easy abilities will emerge after small pattern ( Baltes et. al. , 1989 ) . In the ego preparation theoretical account the aged are both instructors and pupils, they study subjects of their pick, carry out research and theoretical work, organize assorted activities and manner an effectual and advantageous community web. The principle here is that experts from every field finally retire so there is no demand to retain 2nd age instructors to pass on information and cognition to the aged ( Laslett, 1989 ) . This attack has been really successful in the UK, Australia and New Zealand ( Swindell and Thompson, 1995 ) .
On the other manus the coach guided paradigm frequently consists of inter generational categories where the younger grownups and the aged exchange ideas, cognition and treatments. This is normally a pre-designed survey plan and offers more formal classs. Even though the aged may be required to read and compose documents from clip to clip they are isolated from the whole acquisition procedure. This theoretical account is popular in many states such as France, Austria, Belgium and Germany among others. Assorted versions of these theoretical accounts exist around the universe such as Elderhostels that originated in mid 1970s in the United States and is the largest instruction and travel organisation for aged people today ( Moody, 2004 ) . These include classs taught by many organisation, universities and colleges across the Earth and offer low-priced and impermanent academic residential classs. Another version of classs offered for the aged is the Institutes for Learning in Retirement ( ILR ) which has been in being since 1962. These institutes collaborate with universities and offer college degree classs on a tuition-waiver footing. ( Hebestreit, 2006 ) .
With such an huge sum of attempt being put into the instruction of the aged worldwide and the absolute world of the turning aged population in India, the minute in clip has arrived to present 3rd age instruction in India. Through such an endeavor the benefits will non merely be reaped by the aged population but besides by employers every bit good every bit society as a whole.
Benefits for the aged
The aged population which is a important proportion of India ‘s population has every bit much a right to acquisition and instruction as any other group of society. It is a far and broad accepted and recognized fact that persons invariably need to update their cognition and get new accomplishments in order to go on in the current clime of competitory labour markets and continually altering technological progresss in about every field. However, this is non the lone ground for aged persons to prosecute themselves in instruction. The vocabulary of womb-to-tomb acquisition and larning societies can be really restricting for 3rd age scholars as they aim towards economic productiveness and developing work related accomplishments. Learning for 3rd age scholars has many extended advantages such as bettering the societal well being and wellness of persons. In fact this is one of the chief aims behind the Indian Society of U3A which was formed in March 2008 ( Singh, 2011 ) . It aims towards supplying a holistic and meaningful ripening procedure through supplying chances to the 3rd age for sharing experiences and take parting in treatments about the aged and to build programmes around their accomplishments and involvements. They besides aim to join forces with universities and colleges in the hereafter to supply womb-to-tomb unfastened acquisition.
Research shows that when 3rd agers do prosecute in such educational activities, they show high degrees of betterment in ego assurance, enjoyment of life, ability to get by and satisfaction in other countries of life ( Dench and Reagan, 2000 ) . In a research conducted by Dench and Regan ( 2000 ) 40 two per centum of the aged participants stated that the found an betterment in their ability of ‘standing up and being heard and willingness to take on duty ‘ . About 80 per centum of the participants who were working participated in work related acquisition and it was found that larning associated with Information Technology was most common followed by work related acquisition. Some of the former acquisition was due to work demands but a figure of people engaged in it out of personal involvement. The grounds that the older pupils above the age of 60 normally study for prosecuting in larning are to maintain the head active, for personal development and to develop an involvement in an country ( Clennell, 1990 ) . This organic structure of pupils has been seen to be extremely motivated, hardworking, organized and capable of run intoing the demands of the classs they choose and there is no difference between the overall base on balls rates of older and younger pupil in unfastened universities ( Clennell, 1990 ; 1984 ) .
Non-traditional pupils tend to make better due to their adulthood, motive, difficult work, life experience and besides because they are at that place with specific ends in head and loath to blow clip as a cherished resource. Third age pupils are seen to be motivated by sensed cognitive spreads, rational wonder, societal relationship and ego realization ( Bynum and Seaman, 1993 ) . Older scholars show a desire for developing plans when they view work as an of import facet of their lives, out of fiscal necessity and when they work fulltime ( Armstrong-Stassen and Schlosser, 2008 ) . They besides prefer to utilize their current accomplishments and cognition as a footing for farther acquisition ( Ferrier et.al. , 2008 ) In inter-generational groupings, older pupils get to interact with younger pupils and expose leading functions exposing the younger pupils to more mature degrees, through their societal and personal experiences ( Whisnant et. al. , 1993 ) .
There are some typical speculations affecting aged scholars such as they require particular support and learning methods. However, grounds points to the contrary and suggests that aged pupils appear to be extremely motivated and organized and their public presentation is every bit good as the pupils of any other age. It is besides found that though they have apprehensivenesss about their memory, merely a little figure of pupils really describe troubles with memory. Thus, older pupils ‘ demands are moderately similar to those of younger pupils and they do non necessitate any particular proviso provided for them and are committed to their instruction ( Simpson, 2000 ; Clennell, 1984 ; Sivaswaroop ; 2001 ) .
Probes of 3rd age instruction in different states show that collectivized states such as India, Japan and Malaysia prefer larning systems that involve consciousness programmes, societal, communicative and communal acquisition every bit good as that which contributes to other ‘s good being ( Sivaswaroop, 2001 ; Hori and Cusack, 2006 ; Merriem and Muhamad, 2000 ) . In work scenes, the motives to larn root from a sense of self-realization and desire to be physically and mentally active, to larn and seek new things ( Towers Perrin, 2007 ; Pincas, 2007 ) . They prefer to prosecute in programmes that have larning that is comparative to the result ( Ferrier et. al. , 2008 ) and they want to be able to use their freshly learned accomplishments and cognition to their work scene, proposing a desire for an instant consequence of ‘return on investing ‘ ( Newton, Hurstfield, Miller and Bates 2005 ) .
Keeping these characteristics in head educational plans designed around heightening accomplishments and cognition and fulfilling rational wonder, which are unrestrained and corporate, practical and functional in nature and aimed at self realization of the persons is important.
