Senior citizens sparkle in innovation and technology course

Western Bureau

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr says the 37 senior citizens, all female, who recently completed a 10-week course at HEART NSTA College of Innovation and Technology, international certification in digital literacy, are now equipped to protect themselves from scammers and other online predators.

“While they are improving your functionality, we are also allowing you to protect yourself from the scammers,” said Charles Jr, who delivered the main address at the graduation ceremony for the 37 senior citizens, which took place in the conference room of the HEART College of Innovation and Technology, in Montego Bay, on Thursday.

According to Charles, whose portfolio includes responsibility for senior citizens, the training, which took place under the theme, ‘Healthy, Active, Productive Ageing,’ and was made possible through a collaboration with HEART NSTA Trust, and the National Senior Citizens Council, will serve as a buffer against scammers who prey on vulnerable groups.

Jamaica has had a long history of lottery scamming, which sees unscrupulous persons using fake schemes to con unsuspecting people of large sums of monies under the guise that they have won prizes and need to make advance payments to clear their winnings.

“What is going to happen overtime is that those persons will realise that you have now educated yourself and you are going to find that you become less of a vulnerable group,” said Charles. “The reality is, while you improve your functionality and improve how you can navigate this world, how you are improving and how you can protect yourself in this world.”

In an interview with The Gleaner, Cassandra Morrison, executive director for the National Council for Senior Citizens, praised the HEART College of Innovation and Technology tutors for the work they did in guiding the senior citizens through the duration of the course.

“We are very pleased that the College of Innovation and Technology was able to facilitate our senior citizens and take them through the process until they complete the course,” said Morrison.

In noting that the just completed course is the first of three levels under the Senior Digital Literacy Programme, said she hopes other senior citizens will join the programme, and is encouraging those senior citizens who have completed the first level, to move on to the other two levels.

“This level is the basic, we have the intermediate and the advance level and the council is prepared to work with our senior citizens to upgrade themselves,” said Morrison.

In speaking to her experience over the 10-week course, Jennifer Gordon said while she was not a total novice to the computer, she would normally rely on her son to assist her out of fear that she may delete a file or cause the system to crash.

“Now that I have completed this course, I have progressed from that level. I can walk into NWC (National Water Commission) and pay my bill using the kiosk. I can enter the ATM spaces with confidence to do my transaction,” said Gordon, who noted that her instructors were calm, supportive and patient.

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