START them young.
This was what the Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) said after a lawmaker proposed to introduce financial literacy to the senior high school
curriculum.
“This is the time that, as young as they are, they can learn what is the right financial habit that can be taught to them,” CBC president Neil Credo of Maybank told SunStar Cebu.
Credo said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the whole banking institution have been at the forefront of financial literacy even to existing depositors and unbanked individuals.
If introduced to the curriculum, senior high school students, mostly aged 17 or 18, would benefit from learning how to save their money and how to invest wisely on legitimate firms.
“It’s better that, at that age, they already have awareness on the financial matters because some of the younger generation don’t know how to spend the allowances given to them by their parents,” Credo said.
Credo said they began accepting senior high school students as interns in the banks.
“They are taught what is banking, how the banks work and the different options a depositor can have, whether it’ll be long-term or short-term, and on how to save their earnings,” he said.
Deans and department heads of universities have also tied up with local banking heads for internship programs on finance and other business administration-related processes.
Credo said the senior high students showed interest in finance management and information technology-related aspects of banking.
“The banking industry and the parents have a big role to play to help children practice the right financial habit. When they go to college or when they become professionals, they won’t become victims of illegal investment schemes because they learned at an early age how to manage their money,” he said.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian proposed the inclusion of financial literacy in senior high school level to raise the country’s financial literacy at the same time protect more Filipinos from the proliferation of illegal investment activities. JOB