By Leony R. Garcia | Special to the BusinessMirror
AS classes start this year, public-school learners, as well as their teachers, will be exposed to videos and curricula that would teach them the value of savings, investing and preparing for their future needs and wants.
This is after the launch on May 28 of the Financial Literacy Program for School—a financial literacy education developed by the BDO Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The program includes the deployment of financial literacy videos produced by BDO to more than 47,000 public schools nationwide. These topics will be discussed in videos and various teaching aids that will be integrated into the current K to 12 curriculum.
As many as 24 million students and 700,000 teachers are expected to benefit from the program which is BDO Foundation’s flagship corporate citizenship initiative under its financial inclusion advocacy. Aimed at supporting DepEd’s efforts to strengthen financial literacy in its K to 12 curriculum and provide financial literacy education for its teaching and nonteaching personnel, the partnership also hopes to contribute to the consumer protection pillar of the BSP’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion.
Signing the agreement in the BDO head office in Ortigas were Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., BDO Foundation trustee Nestor V. Tan and BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito.
“There are two things that make this program exciting—first is the carefully developed materials, which are expected to make learning and teaching financial literacy more fun, interesting, engaging and effective,” Deriquito said. “The second is the program’s potential for rapid rollout and scaling up within the DepEd system.”
Deriquito noted financial literacy is set to be included in the syllabus in the next two months. Discussion and lesson guides will be developed by the DepEd master teachers, which have been committed to be used in the Teacher Induction Program.
Video and lesson guides will be uploaded on the DepEd learning materials portal for teachers to access. Among the topics are investing, the responsible use of credit, personal budgeting and financial management.
Currently available videos were shown during the launch. The first phase of the program consists of five videos that focus on effective ways to save money. These videos are meant to be shown to certain grade levels in the current K to 12 curriculum all the way up to senior high school along with modules that are aimed specifically at teachers. Discussion plans will aid teachers in making the lessons gained from these videos, which last anywhere from 90 seconds to three minutes, will be provided within the school year.
Briones said the program has been in the DepEd pipeline for two years with the passage of Republic Act 10922, or the Economic and Financial Literacy Act, in July 2016. In her speech, she acknowledged the fact that most teachers are themselves financially illiterate, including herself.
“I can look at budget plans involving hundreds of thousands of pesos, but I can’t bring myself to manage my own finances,” said Briones. She believes that this will not only help them cultivate a virtue of saving in their learners, but also help teachers be better equipped to take on the challenges of day-to-day living.
The DepEd has committed to use the videos in classroom instruction, the Teacher Induction Program, learning action cells and regular training and development programs for both teaching and nonteaching personnel.
Espenilla said “the BSP is actually increasing its investments in this kind of advocacy by putting in more resources to promote financial learning, education and literacy as part of what we do as a central monetary authority.”
“From experience, we realize that to effectively promote financial education, coordinated multistakeholder action is needed. What we are doing today is planting the seed of becoming financially safe down the road. All of these good habits begin as a child,” Espenilla said.
“The BSP believes that instilling financial management skills in children will provide the most impact. The younger the children are taught, the better. We are convinced that embedding financial education in the formal school curriculum is an effective approach,” he added.
A rollout of the program is expected within the first few months of School Year 2018-2019, with the teaching aids and discussion plans set to be given to the DepEd within the beginning of the school calendar. The program will be accessible via the DepEd’s learning portal and is expected to be delivered to schools without access to the Internet via USB.
Private schools and other institutions are also expected to gain access to the program in the near future.