Teachers confirm effectiveness of Cha-Ching youth nancial literacy program

British life insurer Pru Life UK released the evaluation results of the second year implementation of the ChaChing Financial Literacy for the Youth Program at the recent 1st Cha-Ching Educators’ Congress.

Grade 2 teachers surveyed that about 60% of their students looked for opportunities to earn and 62% have started to save part of their allowance. Moreover, 62% of their students have become more conscious of their spending habits, while 62% have begun actively participating in fund raising activities.

Grade 3 teachers meanwhile noted about 63% of students trying out opportunities to earn, 61% developing the habit of saving, 62% becoming more careful with spending and 65% participating in donation drives.

DepEd Undersecretary for partnerships and external linkages Mario Deriquito said, “I wish to congratulate Pru Life UK for reaching another milestone in its Cha-Ching Financial Literacy for the Youth Program. With your first Educators Congress on Financial Literacy, you are able to create greater awareness about the importance of financial literacy among our teachers and enhance their capability to teach this skill to our young people.”

The survey also reflects 86% of Grade 2 teachers and 90% of Grade 3 teachers surveyed gave a satisfied to very satisfied rating of their Cha-Ching implementation experience. Among the training activities, 66% of Grade 2 teachers and 82% of Grade 3 teachers appreciated the basic financial literacy module most, which is one of the training improvements introduced during the second year of program implementation.

Ultimately, 100% of partner school principals surveyed endorse the continuation of Cha-Ching implementation in their schools and recommend the program to other schools.

Pru Life UK senior vice president and chief marketing officer Belle Tiongco said, “Reaching over 50,000 children and adults inspires us to further drive the Cha-Ching program to more partners in the Philippines and reach more of the 14 million Filipino children currently enrolled in both public and private schools. Empowering teachers to contribute in shaping a financially-sound future strengthens the completion of this goal. This Congress allows us to prepare for bigger and more exciting initiatives for Cha-Ching.”

Now on its fourth year, Cha-Ching is the first multicountry, multi-platform program that aims to help parents in Asia build money- smart values for children aged seven to 12 through introducing four money smarts – earn, save, spend and donate.

It was launched in Hong Kong in 2011 by Prudential Corp. Asia (PCA), the regional headquarters of Pru Life UK. Developed with Cartoon Network and children’s education expert Dr. Alice Wilder, ChaChing’s core component is a series of three-minute musical cartoon episodes with catchy tunes and lyrics that employ best practices in learning theory to teach children about smart ways to use money.