The Karnataka Skill Development Corporation will begin offering free training courses to upgrade skills of senior citizens and also plans to hold job fairs for them.

The courses will focus on adding value to the skills the elders already possess – like providing training in accounting software to those good at keeping manual accounts, introducing them to the digital world, technology among others.

KSDC chairman Muralidhar Halappa said there is a lot of demand from companies to hire retired personnel for administrative, human resources, accounts and maintenence jobs. “We interacted with several companies and their view is that senior citizens are loyal and committed. What is required is a bit of skill enhancement. KSDC, which so far has been confined to providing skill development programmes to youths, proposes to fill this gap,” Halappa said.

The focus group for the training programme will be senior citizens who are financially insecure, those who do not get pension but are physically fit for work. Details about the free training schedule and venues will be announced soon, he said.

KSDC also plans to conduct job fairs for senior citizens in different cities across the state. It has tied up with Nightingales Foundation to organise one such fair in Bengaluru on March 26. The day-long fair will be held at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. “Nightingales has expertise to conduct such job fairs for the elderly. We will learn from them and take it forward,” Halappa added.