Kochi senior citizens start their digital ‘Vidyarambham’ with PR firm ResPublica’s help

With the help of PR firm, ResPublica Consulting and NGO Karuna Communications, senior citizens in Kochi received 'Vidyarambham' of a different kind. Just as children take part in this ritual that signifies the start of learning; senior citizens, enacted this to signal the start of acquiring digital skills.

 75 senior citizens were introduced to the world of digital learning by school going teenagers, with the teens guiding and helping them to write ‘Harishree’ on a digital platform, marking the beginning of their digital learning process. 

Children from many city schools acted the role of ‘Gurus' at the Digital Vidyarambham.  Apart from the basic usage, the 'Teen Gurus' also helped them to acquire the primary lessons of using their smartphones, extended sessions on using Facebook, WhatsApp, Ola, Uber, Paytm, online banking and utility Apps that are part of their day-to-day life.  ResPublica would be conducting follow up sessions to address specific doubts and queries regarding smartphone usage in the following weeks.

“Kerala stands top in smartphone penetration in the country with more than 30 million smartphone users. Yet, a majority of the elder citizens who own smartphones doesn’t know how to use the gadgets effectively. As an entity in the communication industry for the past two decades, we perceive this as our responsibility to extend support to this social requirement which went unaddressed.”, says Venu Gopal, senior director, ResPublica Consulting.

Digital Vidyarambham is an initiative as part of the ‘Smart Seniors’ program, ResPublica Consulting’s social initiative to support senior citizens to familiarize with smartphones and digital apps. ResPublica has been leading this program for the past one year, and since its inception around 30 camps have been conducted catering to 1,000 plus senior citizens from various part of the city.