THE Community Development Department (JAPEM) will establish its pioneer
tuition programme with retired teachers and volunteers for underprivileged
children who need help with their studies.
JAPEM's Deputy Controller for
Pensions, Rostinah POKSSP Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Tahir in an interview with The
Brunei Times said the idea for the programme came after they discovered some of
the welfare children have problems in their studies.
"(We) found out that some children
of the welfare assistance recipients do not do well in schools and they could
not afford to attend tuitions," Rostinah disclosed.
She added, "We have people
from our flat at Jalan Sentosa (in the capital) interested to join."
The registration forms are
available at JAPEM.
"So far, we have 11
participants who want to join. This number is good enough. We will start small
first."
They plan to hire retired
teachers and volunteers to teach the classes.
Rostinah said, "We have a lot
of volunteers, not only from the senior citizens. We also have responses from
younger teachers who wanted to teach.
"We (plan to) pay minimal
(fee) to the teachers and the classes are free for the children."
The Deputy Controller for
Pensions said that the classes will be held at Pusat Bahagia, an organisation
under JAPEM set up for special needs individuals.
"InsyaAllah (if Allah is
willing), we will start by January or February (next year)."
The tuition is still in the
planning stage. They have not decided who their target students will be.
Rostinah said, "This depends
on the participants. If we have many primary students, then we will start with
primary level tuition classes. Our programme is very flexible".
By inviting the retired teachers
into the programme, it will offer them the opportunity to continue to
contribute to the society.
Earlier this week, Rostinah spoke
of the possibility to offer employment opportunities to able and retired senior
citizens at the Senior Citizen International Day Forum on Thursday (December
20) at the International Convention Centre in Berakas.
She said in order to increase the
opportunities of employment for senior citizens, the Senior Citizen Action Plan
is currently being drafted.
More discussions with the Ministry
of Home Affairs are under way to provide a work quota for able senior citizen
to continue working.
The training to equip them with
the skills needed for their new jobs are also going to be discussed.
Employment opportunities is one
of the issues identified under the plan.
The plan is intended to be a
guide in building senior citizens' potential so they could continue to be
active and productive in their family, community and country development.
While Brunei is not classified as
an aging society yet, preparations are being done for its eventuality.
A country is said to have an
aging population if 10 per cent of its population consist of ageing society.
"So far Brunei's ageing
population is around three per cent. In terms of our infrastructure we are well
in place, such as our social safety net and health care.
"However, there are still a
few things that we need to fine tune such as senior citizen user friendly
facilities and transportation."
The other issues which would need
attention include policies and law to protect senior citizens from
exploitation, violence and neglect; elderly friendly facilities and more
research to anticipate their needs and requirements.
She pointed out, "Once the
society reached the ageing population, it will be a burden, so we need to
prepare ourselves now. Do not wait until the phenomena is here.
"This is what is facing
other countries now. They are not ready but ageing phenomena already
there."
The tuition for the underprivileged
children is one step to incorporate the retirees back into productive fabric of
the society.
RASIDAH HAB
The Brunei Times
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