MANILA — Teaching the youth about money matters could help them make responsible and informed financial decisions when they become older.
“When young students grow up understanding their financial priorities and calculating financial risks, they become crucial advocates of nation-building,” Department of Education Undersecretary Anne Sevilla told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview.
A World Bank study, titled Enhancing Financial Capability and Inclusion in the Philippines, shows that saving habits and preferences formed during childhood stay into adulthood, and the regular use of a broad range of media has effects on how they make financial decisions.
“Those who began savings habits as children display better attitudes towards savings than those who did not save in their childhood,” said the study, which also revealed the low financial literacy of Filipinos.
To address this, the World Bank recommended the development of a curriculum that integrates financial education as one of the core subjects for school-based financial education programs.
With the intent to boost financial education among Filipinos, DepEd, along with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Banco De Oro Foundation (BDOF), created and disseminated learning materials on proper management of finances in public schools nationwide.
Sevilla said the videos would be key in instilling other values, which life-long learners must possess, apart from teaching the value of saving money.
“Kapag ang bata ay tinuruan ng financial management, natututo silang maging responsible and to think critically. Naiisip nila kung alin ang mas importante pagkagastusan at mamuhay lamang sa kakayahan nila (When a child is taught financial management, they learn to be responsible and to think critically. They are able to analyze which is more important to spend on and to live within their means),” she said.
Sevilla stressed that financial literacy is not just about saving money but also involves knowledge of how money works in the community.
“Ang decision-making ng mga bata sa pera ay nagpo-progress (Children’s decision-making about money progresses) from simple to big things, when they become parents, businessmen and leaders of our communities, they will manage their finances according to what was taught to them when they were young,” she added.
Through learner-friendly videos, students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel would be trained on financial literacy.
The videos, which are available on DVDs, USB sticks and Learning Resource Materials Development System links show different and practical ways to save money and manage daily expenses.
“According to the briefer that was given to me, Secretary (Leonor) Briones was very happy because the videos were able to provide the simple ways and means to incorporate to a child the concept of savings and alignment to the curriculum,” Sevilla said.
The videos have matching manuals, which also discuss lessons on financial planning, responsible use of credit and sharing of resources to others especially to the less fortunate.
In the video called “Bente Bente”, elementary students are taught to save at least PHP20 from their allowance and the money they receive during holidays and their birthdays. 
The video also encouraged students to choose to walk going to school or going home instead of riding a “padyak”.
Meanwhile, teachers and non-teaching personnel could also learn practical ways, through which they can save for their future plans from the video titled “Save by the Bells”.
Emphasizing the value of saving 10 percent of one’s monthly income, the video provided strategies that would help teachers and non-teaching personnel make the most out of what’s left from their monthly income.
These include using cash when buying groceries, bringing packed lunch to work and depositing 25 percent of their holiday bonus in the bank. Recognizing the roles of teachers in raising financially-literate Filipinos, Sevilla said DepEd is also keen about equipping them with financial management skills which they can model to the learners.
“For the newly-hired teachers, Secretary Briones instructed, part ng kanilang (of their) orientation is financial literacy. Meron kaming (We have a) resource person na nagtuturo ng (who teaches) personal management of your finances, not just the partnership with BDO, BSP, GSIS but a lot of non-government organizations volunteering to teach our teachers,” she said.
Through the financial literacy program, DepEd hopes that its personnel would learn how to set their financial priorities and make intelligent decisions when it comes to borrowing money.
“We have to teach our personnel having right priorities, kung ito lang ang pinanggalingan ng kita mo (if these are your sources of income only), you have to be very aware and conscious sa kung ano lang ang pwede mong pagkasyahin at ma-prioritize kung anong mahalaga kahit madami kang gustong gawin (about the things you can do and prioritize what’s important even if you plan to do a lot of things),” she added.
To date, the videos are still with DepEd’s curriculum team, which was tasked to perform quality checking and to align them with the present curriculum.
While their release has no exact date yet, around 700,000 teachers and non-teaching personnel and millions of public school students nationwide are expected to benefit from them soon. (Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)
