Maria Teresa, Franca, Antonio, Rosanna, Anna Maria, Vincenza, Rosalba, Antonino, Rosa, Antonio, Vincenzo, Romeo, Salvatore, Lucio, Giovanni, Pietro, Giuliana, Maria, Pasqualina, Maria, Andreana … These are the unusual names on the class attendance list that will be pronounced today in the IIS Tommaso Gulli computer lab at Reggio Calabria. The school, which is managed by Headmaster Alessandro De Santi, will welcome the over-65 students who return to class to learn about new technologies, computers and on-line navigation. Their classmates will be the school’s student tutors.
One of the students, Lucio, is eighty-four years old. He worked for years in the School Department in Reggio, but now he’s one of the “retired students” amgonst teachers, clerks, entrepreneurs, accountants, etc.
Mobile communication, efficient use of smartphones and tablets, and the ability to use apps will no longer hold secrets for these over-65s participating in the second edition of “Grandparents On-line. Everyone’s Young at the Post Office.”
The digital literacy project, which is promoted by Poste Italiane and the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, is currently underway in 20 Italian municipalities to teach elders to use the Internet and introduce them to digital culture with the help of young students as their teachers.
