RBM for financial literacy in schools

The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has engaged an extra gear to ensure that financial literacy is instilled in school going children, with secondary schools being the first point of call next year.

As a result, the central bank has since developed a national strategy on financial literacy, currently under consultations, to facilitate the promotion of financial literacy in schools, according to RBM acting director for microfinance and capital markets supervision Hastings Mzoma.

“There is a national steering committee that is at the foot of this. It involves the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Bankers Association of Malawi and the Insurance Institute of Malawi, among others,” he said this week.

The national strategy will eventually culminate into the inclusion of financial literacy subjects in the secondary school curriculum next year and, at a later stage, in primary schools.

The need to deepen financial literacy is premised on the backdrop of a Finscope Study, conducted in 2008, funded by the British Department for International Development (DfID), which revealed a huge deficit in the uptake of financial products and services.

It also found out that a paltry 19 percent of the adult population use formal financial institutions and that financial services are not contributing fully to economic growth and poverty reduction.

Mzoma said there is a clear lack of awareness on financial products, hence, the acceleration of the financial literacy agenda.

The RBM has over the past few months been training secondary school teachers particularly in the Southern Region to prepare them for the new curriculum. They will eventually extend to all the regions of Malawi.

Just this week, the officials from the central bank went to Mulanje where they trained secondary school teachers from the South West Education Division to increase their awareness on sound personal finance.

Mzoma hailed the education ministry for wanting to incorporate financial literacy subject in the education curriculum at short notice.

Thokozile Banda, deputy director of inspectorate and advisory services in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said they are developing a curriculum that responds to the needs of the nation.

“We are currently revising the secondary school curriculum to incorporate financial literacy in different subjects beginning next year,” she said, stressing this is a result of wider consultation as part of the national strategy on financial literacy.

This, Banda said, will ensure that people manage their personal household finances responsibly.

However, the challenge to rollout this programme could be the quality of teachers to ensure that it is a success.

“The quality of teachers is a key factor. The trainings [being conducted by RBM] will prepare the teachers to competently and confidently deliver financial education,” said Banda, stressing that the subject requires qualified teachers, adequate teaching and learning materials and support structures.

The introduction of financial literacy is part of the World Bank-funded five-year Financial Technical Assistance Project (Fstap) which will, among others, help to increase financial access to 60 percent of the country’s more than 14 million people.

Fstap project manager MacDonald Mafuta Mwale earlier said of particular interest under this project, apart from financial literacy, is consumer protection.

“Our kids will start learning personal finance. This will really change their perception of the banks and the financial sector in general,” he said.

Unlike in other countries, this will the first time for secondary school going children to learn issues to do with finance.