关于政府、公众对老年人关注的话题,目前只有1%的教育预算是给予老年人群体的。被认为是社会经济负担的他们,若想也为社会作出一份力量,无论是有偿的还是义务的,都需要一定的知识和技能,特别是在现在信息发展迅猛的时代。但是没有经济的资助和社会的关注,迈出这一步似乎很难。
Older people must be given more chances to learn if they are to contribute to society rather than be a financial burden 经济负担, according to a new study on population published today.
The current approach which concentrates on younger people and on skills for employment is inadequate 不充足 to meet the challenges of demographic 人口的 change, it says. Only 1% of the education budget is currently spent on the oldest third of the population.
The challenges include the fact that most people can expect to spend a third of their lives in retirement, that there are now more people over 59 than under 16 and that 11.3 million people are over state pension age 国家退休金年龄. Life expectancy 预期寿命 for a 65-year-old is now 85 for men and 88 for women.
"Learning needs to continue throughout life. "The vast majority of our education budget is spent on people below the age of 25. When people are changing their jobs, homes, partners and lifestyles more often than ever, they need opportunities to learn at every age." For example, some people are starting new careers in their 50s and later.
People need opportunities to make a "midlife review 回顾中年" to adjust to the later stages of employed life, and to plan for the transition 过渡 to retirement, which may now happen unpredictably at any point from 50 to over 90.