Rauna parish pensioners met in the first lesson of the “Senior Academy”. It is an initiative of the Education Board of the municipality of Smiltene region – to give seniors the opportunity to learn new knowledge. Until now, the classes of the “Senior Academy” were held in Ape and Smiltene.
“Rauna’s pensioners are active, they want to learn something new and supported the idea of the “Senior Academy”. There are rooms, you just have to express your wishes, what you would like to learn,” says Linda Zūdiņa, the head of the Rauna parish administration, and emphasizes that 16 seniors participated in the first meeting and the topics that the pensioners would like to learn more about have been highlighted. L. Zūdiņa considers that, although Raunė residents are active, they use modern technologies on a daily basis, however, several admitted that there are things they would like to learn, for example, using e-signatures, using latvija.gov.lv, eveselība.lv, income declaration submission and other skills. Also, pensioners would like to listen to the recommendations of doctors about a healthy lifestyle, the advice of professionals about gardening, beekeeping.
Last November, the pensioners of Rauna parish got together in an informal atmosphere. “Now we meet once a month, we talk about both everyday issues and important things that interest everyone. We had a meeting with social service workers, there were many questions. We usually meet around 20. We will decide whether we will meet only once a month at the “Senior Academy” or once more at the usual time,” says Inese Pulkstene, an activist of the Rauna pensioners group, and adds that in the summer, of course, everyone is busy in the countryside, but winter is the time to meet , to talk and also to learn.
