More than 100 Vitebsk pensioners completed training under the program "Networks are obedient to all ages"
More than 100 Vitebsk pensioners have successfully completed training in computer and internet use under the MTS educational program "Networks are subject to all ages," Yuri Mironov, leading public relations specialist at JV Mobile TeleSystems LLC, told a BELTA correspondent.
For four months, elderly residents of the regional center from the first cohort of the project mastered the principles of computer operation, the internet, basic software, services, and social networks. Today, they can independently make calls via the internet, book doctor's appointments, pay for utility services, check bus and train schedules, book tickets, correspond on social networks, read blogs, and find any information in search engines. The training material is designed taking into account the psychological and age-specific characteristics of the students. Local volunteers from various professions – students, journalists, teachers, marketers, and MTS employees – act as instructors. The average age of the volunteer instructors in the Vitebsk region is 35 years, and that of the elderly students is 67 years.
Today, diplomas will be awarded to the first "graduates" of the project in the region in Vitebsk. Before receiving their certificates of completion, pensioners will have to confirm their knowledge in a brain-ring format. A similar graduation ceremony has already taken place in Mogilev, and others are planned in other regional cities. The culmination of the "Networks are subject to all ages" project will be a republican tournament among pensioners, where regional winners will compete for the title of the best computer and internet users among the elderly in Belarus.
The educational project of MTS operator will continue its work in the region, as about 120 more pensioners are ready to sit at computer desks again. A new training class (the fourth in the Vitebsk region), which was recently opened at the territorial center for social services of the population of Polotsk, will help to cope with the flow of applicants.
The project "Networks are obedient to all ages" started in October 2013 in the capital, and later in all regional cities of the country with the support of regional executive committees and local administrations. With the help of volunteer teachers, the program has already trained over 2000 pensioners in Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Grodno, Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Bobruisk.
Ekaterina Knyazeva