The national silver academy (NSA) is an initiative to help seniors aged 50 years and above stay physically, mentally, and socially active. The NSA partners with the Institute of Adult Learning (IAL), community centers and community clubs, education institutes, and voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs) to provide affordable programs.
National Silver Academy focuses on student learning.
Thenational silver academy curriculum is designed by experts from NTUC LearningHub who research seniors’ preferences in learning to ensure that the course content is relevant and exciting to seniors. Instructors conduct courses from Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Centre for Continuing Education (Pace Academy) who have the proper knowledge, experience, and passion for teaching. The National Silver Academy, launched by the People’s Association (PA) in 2014, aims to help seniors learn new skills and keep active, an essential part of Healthy Ageing. The Academy works to reach out to seniors who are not actively engaged in learning. It also aims to make learning more interesting for those who have been learning for some time.
The Academy’s courses take a multi-pronged approach:
- To encourage seniors who have never learned before or have not learned for a long time to pick up new skills like reading and writing, computing, and foreign languages.
- To encourage seniors who have been learning for some time but are less active now to re-engage in learning through technology and new classroom formats.
The purpose of education is to convince students to learn. This can be done by making learning the best option. National Silver Academy wants to create and implement a program that makes it more rewarding for older workers to upgrade their skills than retiring.