Gerontology: Meaning, Scope and Implications for Adult Education

Abstract

The study of older adults is a recent field of study and as such, has not been given its proper place in the human society. The older or the retired adults are in most cases regarded as people who have exhausted all their potentials of live during their services at their various places of work. They can no longer make meaningful contributions to the development of the society. This paper makes a case that adult education has a role to play in making people understand and appreciate the fact that the older or retired adults can still contribute meaningfully to the betterment of the human society. They should as well appreciate the message coded in gerontology. The paper discussed the concepts of ageing and its perspectives, gerontology and its implications to adult education. The paper concludes that adult education could be used in minimizing the ageing challenges of the older adults by providing them with appropriate programmes of guidance and counselling that will help in integrating and assisting them to cope with the declining organ functions of the body and contribute meaningfully to the betterment of the society.

Keywords: Gerontology, Ageing and Adult Education