Abstract
While developed nations are taking more positive steps in caring for their elderly, nations in Sub-Saharan Africa seem to be moving backwards in the care of the elderly. Members of the community used to be their brothers' keepers but these days, the news media is rife with stories of brutal and inhuman acts against the elderly. Even biological children have been observed to neglect their elderly parents. Ideally, human development should result in the well-being of all but sadly, this is not the case. The paper discusses the urgent need for the use of Adult Education departments as platforms for certified training towards the provision of humanized caregiving for the elderly outside Gerontology and other elderly-related courses being offered presently. This paper discusses the concept of humanization by highlighting various dictionary definitions. In an attempt to trace the history of humanization, Freire’s philosophy of humanization was discussed. Some philosophical underpinnings of humanization and three specific theories, to wit, Humanistic Education Theory, Social Care Models and Paulo Freire’s Adult Learning Theories were discussed as the bases for the arguments canvassed. The paper also discussed dehumanization as the opposite of humanization. Some despicable acts of dehumanization, violence and neglect of the elderly trending in news media were highlighted. Thereafter the paper briefly discussed the forms, prevalence, risk factors, perpetrators and consequences of elderly abuses as gleaned from reviewed literatures in order to create awareness of what constitutes elderly abuse. The paper also argues that innovations in technology affect the elderly both positively and negatively and that seniors are being scammed due to lack of trustworthy and properly trained care-givers. This paper looked to the departments of adult education to provide solution by widening their scope to include training on humanized caregiving for the elderly akin to certified care-giver qualifications in developed societies.