Prague 5: Education for seniors in the Smíchov Community Center Laundry
04.10.2022 8:36 | Press Release
“We are part of a modern, advanced civilization, but it is currently going through a turbulent period, when the whole society is experiencing unusual crisis situations and existing uncertainties persist. “Educated people played a very important role whenever in the history of mankind it went through similar difficult trials,” says councilor JUDr. Petr Lachnit.
“And education, social and cultural outlook are just as important today as in the past,” adds councilor Lachnit. This applies not only to the productive part of our society, but also to the elderly, who form part of our population and are still increasing. At the same time, the perceived image of seniors as people with the same needs and characteristics is changing. The opposite is true.
Seniors make up the most heterogeneous part of the population, they do not have the same needs or characteristics. Even at an advanced age, a substantial part of seniors continue to educate themselves and expand their knowledge and skills. They are currently still needed, which is why they are experiencing a rise in the interest of various 3rd age academies and other courses aimed at the senior population.
An educational program for seniors has also been running for the past several years at the Laundry Community Center in Prague’s Smíchov, which offers them regular courses in three basic areas:
- IT – digital literacy and new technologies for seniors
- Language education
- Health and exercise activities / healthy lifestyle
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Since 2012, the Laundry Community Center has been fulfilling its function as a center for education and meeting people across social and age groups. Its activity represents a functional community, educational, social and cultural center in the truest sense of the word, reflecting current social needs. The dominant group of visitors consists of seniors in the age range of 65 to 99 years. A comprehensive educational program is prepared for them, the schedule of which copies the school year at the university (winter and summer semester), and the individual years are separated by a special holiday program “Summer with KC Laundry” in the months of July and August.
A significant feature of the concept of community education in the center is the fact that programs and activities are developed in dialogue with members of the community-visitors of the community center, who are also participants. An integral part is also the active involvement of the seniors themselves in specific activities, for example as lecturers of language conversations, co-organizers of events, participating in preparations, leaders of a dance troupe or table tennis club, etc.
“Human age is getting longer, and the length of life should also be accompanied by its quality. A dignified active life in old age is conditioned by the development of the whole personality, so it is not possible to focus only on the physical, but also on the psychological and transcendental. For a balanced and harmonious life, the balance of all components of the personality is necessary, and the mentioned quality of life largely affects the cognitive functions that need to be developed and strengthened. One option is education at an older age. through further education, seniors not only supplement and expand their knowledge, but it also means for them the filling of their free time, the opportunity to establish new friendships and social relationships. In the current stressful times, the foundations of senior age, such as wisdom, prudence and certainty, can become a pillar of today’s wobbly modern civilization, which, on the contrary, has bet on predatory individualism, speed and dynamism,” thinks councilor JUDr. Petr Lachnit.
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author: PV