By PHARES MUTEMBEI
Months after the UK drafted a law to make financial education compulsory and examinable in basic education level, Kenya has announced it is headed the same route.
Ministry of Education officials say financial education is a key component of the draft curriculum that is near completion.
Dr Lydia Nzomo, the director and chief executive of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, says, “We will mainstream financial skills in the new curriculum. Integrating financial literacy education into the curriculum will equip learners with financial skills which will increase savings rate, facilitate wealth accumulation, reduce loan delinquency rates, enhance retirement plan participation and reduce debt burden among youth.”
The UK’s new draft curriculum, already published, aims to make financial literacy and capability a statutory part of the curriculum, for the first time, starting September next year. The draft curriculum amplifies the need to introduce financial education in schools. The draft indicates the move would “prepare pupils to take their place in society as responsible citizens by providing them with the skills and knowledge to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions.”
Skills on money handling
Under the UK system, children aged between 11 and 14 will be taught about the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and a range of financial products and services.
Last week, Nairobi hosted the Aflatoun International Meeting, whose theme was ‘Partnering for Child and Youth Social and Financial Education for All: Building Blocks for Life’.
Financial education is one of the new features in Kenya’s new curriculum that is expected to take effect by 2015, Dr Nzomo says, adding that it will change learners’ perceptions on money and equip them with the necessary skills on how to handle the resource.
“For children and youth in Kenya and around the world, there are a number of financial competences they need to acquire to cope with the present financial challenges,” she says.
Education and National Treasury officials and curriculum developers were in agreement on the importance of financial literacy among students, as the country prepares to achieve Vision 2030 goals.
“In the current financial environment, children and youth are uniquely impacted by domestic financial obligations. Moments of financial trouble create opportunities for children to learn about personal finance and to improve their own money management skills. However, comprehensive strategies for educating them about personal finance have not yet emerged,” added Nzomo.
“Young people need to understand the basics of savings, spending, investing and planning for the future as well as the relationship between risk and return, the diversity between short and long-term investments, and the ramifications of not planning adequately for retirement.”
Primary schools in Western and Nairobi regions have already formed clubs where children participate in simple savings schemes that give them an ethical foundation for the use of money and resources. The Ministry of Education has lauded the programme and supports its spread to schools in other counties.
For instance, at Eshiyenga Primary in Kakamega County, children are having education and fun learning about money and how to save it.
“There are 105 members and the reason for joining is to learn about money. We all want to know where it comes from, how to get it and how to use or save it. We have a savings box where we stash all our cash. We are saving hard and so far our total savings amount to Sh5,000,” says 12-year-old Semo Reuben, the club organising secretary.
How do they use their money? “We don’t, unless it is really necessary. Every member is free to contribute any amount, even a shilling. If one of us has a stomach ache or other minor problem, we can always remove a few coins and buy them medicine, because most of us are poor,” says Semo.
And Clinton Aburi, a pupil at St Elizabeth Primary at Nairobi’s Lunga Lunga estate, offers a lesson on how important financial literacy education can impact on children’s lives.
Project paying off
“We have a financial club at school and now I know a little about money. Before joining, I did not save any money at all. I never stayed with any money in my pocket. I would spend all of the money I could get because I did not know what saving is.
“But now I am the club treasurer in charge of the savings box. My job is to receive, record and sign the money that members bring. I am learning how to be a good manager of pupils and money. We have been saving from January this year, and we have Sh1,300, so far,” he says.
