News Details

Students of the Department of Sociology visited Old Age Home at Hota Para, Gazipur, on November 29, 2024. As a part of the practical learning from the firsthand experiences, the students of the courses SOC 320 (Social Gerontology), SOC 107 (Social Problems and Analysis), and SOC 206 (Social History) spent a day with 145 elderly inhabitants of the old age home. Chairperson of the Department, Dr. Fouzia Mannan, and course teachers, Dr. Anisur Rahman, Dr. Rasel Hussain, and Ms. Ruma Pervin, were accompanied and guided the students throughout the day at the old age home. 

The daylong program was very engaging and interactive from both sides. At the beginning of the day, the students learned about the history, management, and facilities of the old-age home from the officials. Following this session, the students have been divided into groups and started engaging with the senior citizens. They were involved in a series of formal and informal discussions with both male and female elderly people in the home. Students tried to involve the elderly to share their life stories and asked for their guidance. Following that, students started observing and taking note of the facilities of the elderly home, including the living environment, living conditions, kitchen, washroom, utensils, food management, medical facilities, open space, special support facilities, and so on, as a part of their assignment of the respective courses. In the final session, the course teachers and the students arranged the fun game activities for the elderly, where a huge number of senior citizens willingly participated and enjoyed wholeheartedly. The fun game includes a separate walking competition, pillow pass, throwing ball in the basket, and singing for both male and female residents. They were given prizes as a token of appreciation and to make their day memorable for standing up 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Their joys of the day were overwhelmed, and it seems all of them forgot their sorrows and pain for the day.

The main messages we wanted to pass to our students are what they should do and what they should not do with their parents not to discover themselves as well as their parents at the old age home in the future. Furthermore, the department wanted to socialize the students to be respectful to the senior citizens of the country as well as to be aware of their roles and responsibilities towards their parents in their old age.