STRENGTHENING FINANCIAL LITERACY IN SCHOOLS

The author is Teacher

BUENA MUSNGI DIZON

The Department of Education (DepEd) has reiterated the importance of financial literacy in finding solutions to life’s challenges.

According to Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, financial literacy is all about finding solutions to challenges that everyone faces. She said it’s about finding solutions to reaching the goals that we want to reach, what we want to be, and what we want to do with the rest of our lives.

Having already incorporated Financial Literacy in the K to 12 Basic Education Program, and in the in-service training (INSET) program for teachers and non-teaching personnel, the Department partnered with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and BDO Foundation (BDOF) to further advance the development of financial education initiatives.

The partnership includes the distribution of learning materials, primarily videos, which shall be used for the training of teachers and non-teaching personnel, and for classroom instruction accompanied by teachers’ guides. The learner-friendly videos shall be made available through various formats – DVD, USB sticks, Learning Resource Materials Development System (LRMDS), links, etc., based on the needs and capabilities of the schools. The materials focus on simple ways to save and manage one’s expenses.

The DepEd is grateful for their partners, BDO and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, for taking the initiative in helping out in fulfilling the requirements of Republic Act No. 10922, otherwise known as the “Economic and Financial Literacy Act,” which mandates DepEd to “ensure that economic and financial education becomes an integral part of formal learning.” This initiative, DepEd says, goes beyond the provisions of the law.

The collaborating agencies believe that institutionalizing financial literacy in the curriculum is a crucial step towards a “financially-learned citizenry” who shall better contribute to nation-building in the future. The learning tools are set to be used by approximately 700,000 teachers and non-teaching personnel, for the benefit of the millions of students from public schools nationwide.

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III at Sta. Ana Elementary School