BHOJPUR: President Bidya Devi Bhandari said on Saturday that the tradition of sending elderly mothers and fathers to old age homes must come to an end.

Inaugurating a senior citizens honour programme in Biratnagar organised by the Manamohan Smriti Pratisthan, President Bhandari shed light on the need to educate children to respect the elders.

“The education curricula must be designed to bolster the children’s respect towards elderly citizens,” President Bhandari added. “Else, even educated citizens would ignore their elderly parents.”

There has been given rights to the elderly citzens in the Constitution of Nepal, Bhandari reminded.

Likewise, the social security allowance initiated by the government led by late Manmohan Adhikari has stood as the model among South Asian countries, President Bhandari added.

The allowances have already begun to aid elderly citizens to solve their minor problems, she observed.

In the programme, former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also spoke of the need to establish hospitals in all seven provinces of Nepal to serve elderly citizens.