Tiss Course Senior Citizens Study Ageing After 60 Purposeful Retirement

On a Friday evening at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), long after most college campuses begin to empty out, a different kind of classroom slowly fills up. A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) scientist walks in carrying handwritten note... On a Friday evening at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), long after most college campuses begin to empty out, a different kind of classroom slowly fills up. A retired Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) scientist walks in carrying handwritten notes. Beside him sits a former schoolteacher from Hyderabad. A homemaker in her 60s quietly adjusts her spectacles before opening a notebook. Someone else has rushed in after finishing caregiving duties at home. There are no discussions about second life placements or corporate careers. Instead, the lesson begins with a question: How to manage the process of growing old, specially when one is alone? A faculty member projects an image of the human brain and begins explaining dementia and cognitive decline. The discussion quickly moves beyond medicine. Students speak about parents forgetting names, elderly relatives repeating stories or withdrawing after their children migrate abroad. One student recalls watching his father age rapidly after his mother died. Another talks about the silent exhaustion of caregiving. In another session, soft music fills the room as students participate in dance movement therapy and art exercises later explained as methods used to stimulate memory and emotional expression among older adults. Many laugh awkwardly at first. Weeks later, the same group would stage a street play on ageing and loneliness. These are among the experiences shaping students enrolled in TISS’ one-year diploma in Gerontology, a part-time programme where elderly Indians are learning not only about ageing, but also about survival, companionship and purpose in later life. “India is witnessing a major demographic shift with people aged 60 and above projected to form nearly 20 per cent of the population by 2050. Loneliness, caregiving stress, emotional neglect, social isolation and the need for dignified ageing are emerging as critical concerns,” said Dr Saigita Chitturu, assistant professor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning and faculty coordinator for the programme, which was launched in 2008. Open to candidates above 25 years of age, it combines classroom teaching with field-based experiential learning focused on the biological, psychological, social and economic dimensions of ageing. Over the last couple of years, it has opened to the elderly, helping them help themselves. The programme currently admits around 30 students each year. Classes are held on Friday evenings and Saturdays over two semesters, with course fees of around Rs 63,000. Learning to Teaching At 67, when most people are expected to settle into retirement, Prakash Apte walked into the classroom to study ageing. “For years, I have seen older people around me struggling with loneliness and neglect. I wanted to understand what ageing really means and how society can respond to it,” said Apte, a student from the 2021-22 batch of TISS’ Diploma in Gerontology programme. A yoga teacher, he