IT HAS been one of the priority programs of the Department of Education (DepEd) under the leadership of Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones to instill financial literacy among teachers and learners.
The DepEd Chief once again reiterated its importance in her message during the Financial Education Stakeholders Expo 2018, organized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), on November 27 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
It was mentioned in the press release found in DepEd website that the Expo aimed to connect stakeholders from the public and private sectors, provide venue for sharing their financial education initiatives, and encourage productive partnerships.
With the full support of its partners, DepEd has been training trainers in the conduct of Financial Literacy Education (FLE) for teachers for them to be benefitted personally and professionally as they will integrate FLE in their respective classes.
Briones revealed that around 6,000 teachers from the National Capital Region (NCR) have been trained in the pilot stage of the modules collaboratively developed by DepEd, the BSP, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).
If it will be rolled out nationwide, the FLE will be integrated in the following subjects across grade levels: Filipino; English; Mathematics; Science; Araling Panlipunan; Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan; Technology and Livelihood Education; Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao; Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health; Homeroom Guidance Program; and selected senior high school (SHS) core and applied subjects.
The Secretary could vividly remember that during her first few days as DepEd Chief, her first step done was to conduct in-depth studies on the spending habits of DepEd employees, both teaching and non-teaching personnel that paved way to the birth of various efforts and partnerships of DepEd with other key agencies and organizations that promote financial literacy.
Briones even mentioned that when she joined DepEd, the first thing she did was to conduct a serious study on the spending habits of the teaching and non-teaching personnel and to ask what do they do with their borrowed funds because they could borrow money within 30 minutes if they wish to and there are always institutions, groups – legal or illegal – from whom they could borrow the money.
In 2019, Secretary Briones said that DepEd is geared to further improve its financial systems because she noted that one of the reasons why employees go into debt is due to the delays in the payment of salaries, in the downloading of fund, etc. and promised to work very, very hard to remedy the said predicaments. This is part of DepEd’s effort to embark on further improving its financial systems: “
Briones thanked BSP and other partners for the conduct of the Expo, and emphasized that this was timely as the holiday season, when spending becomes more frequent and higher, comes around the corner.
Briones said that there is no end to our wants but there are limitations so she asked her constituents to take care of their resources, money, and funds.
This Corner hopes that all DepEd teaching and non-teaching personnel should instill in their minds the need of giving importance to whatever resources, funds and money they have. With this, they will be able to live a fuller, fulfilled life with needs, not wants as priority on top of first setting aside savings before spending.