SINGAPORE : Senior citizens above 60 can now visit six museums for free every Monday.

Participating museums are the Asian Civilisations Museum, Memories at Old Ford Factory, the National Museum of Singapore, Peranakan Museum, Singapore Art Museum and Singapore Philatelic Museum.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) said this is one of the initiatives in response to the government's call for active ageing.

Bilingual guides have been trained to facilitate tours for seniors, and the NHB hopes to recruit even more senior citizens to conduct such tours.

Currently, of the 200 guides available, only 10 percent of them are senior citizens.

Cheryl Koh, Assistant Director, Marketing and Promotions, National Heritage Board, said: "With senior tour guides, perhaps the senior citizens themselves will feel more comfortable relating to someone of the same age as them.

"Secondly, we also have dual-language audio sound systems where the senior citizens can listen to (other) languages besides English and Mandarin... This way, they will feel more comfortable." - CNA/ms