Swedish envoy calls for inculcation of financial literacy
FINANCIAL literacy should be inculcated in young people at a tender age to help them make sound financial decisions while encouraging savings.
This is according to the Embassy of Sweden Deputy Head of Bilateral Cooperation and Analyst, Jonathan Francis.
Mr Francis observed that when young people were financially literate they would be able to make informed decisions in terms of savings and how to handle finances.
He said this in an interview after handling over 50 National Financial Education Supplementary Literature (NFESL) books to Libala Secondary School as part of the insurance week celebrations on Wednesday.
The 10th annual insurance week was launched on Monday and is running from September 26 to 30, 2022 under the theme “insurance-solutions for a better tomorrow.”
“Sweden has been working with Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSDZ) and the Ministry of Education to develop a new financial curriculum for Zambia. FSDZ brings in the expertise working together with the Curriculum Development Centre through the Ministry of Education.
“We have developed a new curriculum because financial education has the potential to help the young to have a better understanding of financial issues and how to save money which will help them make right decisions for their future,” Mr Francis said.
He said the exercise was an important piece of education that had been missing in the education system.
Hollard General Insurance has printed 200 NFESL books which they will be handing over to four government schools with each getting 50 books within Lusaka during the Insurance week.
On the books, Mr Francis said they would be distributed across the country in all the schools so that pupils could have access to the materials.
And FSDZ Chief Operations Officer Bruce Mushipi said the books were launched earlier this year targeting grades eight to to 12 regarding financial education.
Mr Mushipi said the handover of the books was part of the rolling out of the programme in schools.