“Grandparents On-line. Everyone’s Young at the Post Office,” the digital literacy project promoted by Poste Italiane with the collaboration of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale arrives to Friuli Venezia Giulia, the fourth oldest region in Europe.
In fact, Italy holds the record for over-sixty-five population in the EU28 (21.4% to Germany’s 20.8% and Greece’s 20.5%). The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region reaches 24.7%, placing second in Italy after Liguria, and fourth in Europe. Indeed, the Province of Trieste is the fourteenth oldest in Europe [iReport, L'invecchiamento in FVG, 2016].
Based on the map of retired workers in Italy published last Monday by daily Il Sole 24 Ore, Friuli also detains another record. It’s the region with the highest number of pensioners: over 35% of the population of pensioners resides in the three of the region’s four main cities. Trieste places third in Italy, while Pordenone and Udine have the greatest cost due to pensioners. The data is available in a report by the Centro studi Datalavoro on INPS data [Ecco come è cambiata l’Italia delle pensioni, Il Sole 24 Ore, 25 January 2016].
Trieste is thus a perfect basin for this challenge that will see young tutors teach elder students, an initiative that can become a pilot lab for active ageing and digital literacy for the elderly.
Today, the over-65s in Trieste return to school at IIS Alessandro Volta, managed by Headmaster Clementina Frescura. Activities in the computer lab will be coordinated by Flavia Lollis and Fulvio Venturini, while Cecilia Stajano (FMD School Innovation Manager) will greet students on behalf of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which manages the project throughout Italy. The tutors are 24 students that met this morning in the school library to receive their final coaching on the project (see the school’s document: circolare della scuola). Then, at 3 pm, everyone will meet in the lab to start learning how to use PCs, surf the Internet and use on-line services.
