The “Train the Trainer for Teachers” programme (Train the Teachers), launched by the Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong at the SC today, aims to equip teachers with financial literacy teaching skills. These teachers will then serve as “change agents” to create a significant multiplier effect to reach out to school children, aged between 10 to 15 years.
Investor education has long been a regulatory priority for the SC which believes it is essential that people develop the necessary skills to safely avoid the many scams and fraudulent schemes in the market and to assess the suitability of legitimate financial products and services in accordance with their financial capabilities and risk appetite. Through its training and development arm, the Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC), the SC delivers a range of investor education programmes such as Be Money Wise and Money@Work which cater to adults, as well as programmes for children such as Kids & Cash, Teens & Cash, Cash@Campus and Kampus kaChing.
The SC started developing Train the Teacher programme as part of a broader train the trainer initiative for investor education to leverage on its multiplier effect in building financial literacy & responsibility and resistance to scams and to ensure the sustainability of efforts supporting the journey from financial literacy to financial capability.
“One of the initiatives which would have the most positive impact was to leverage on teachers who are a ready and valuable resource and a natural conduit for learning, by providing them with the necessary tools and incentives to enable them to become an important part of the financial literacy programme. With this in mind, we developed the Train the Teacher programme which we hope will ensure both the desired multiplier effect, as well as the sustainability required to support the journey from financial literacy to financial capability,” said Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman of the SC, at the launch.
Through initiatives like’Kids & Cash’ and ‘Teens & Cash’, which have been running for the past three years, the SC has reached about 90,000 students. With the commitment of the teachers and the support of their principals and the Ministry, Train the Teacher has the potential to triple that reach over the next five years.
Train the Teacher, which was piloted earlier this year on 100 teachers from Selangor and Terengganu, is part of the SC’s long-term plan to provide young kids a head start in financial literacy. It equips teachers with the tools and skills to run activity-based workshops to help children learn about money management and formulate smart spending habits in fun-filled and creative ways.
According to a post-programme survey, 95% of school children start saving or increase their savings and were able to differentiate between needs and wants when making purchases, with 64% decided to invest their money, after going through financial literacy programmes like’Kids & Cash’, ‘Teens & Cash’.
“Whilst the SC can develop and facilitate the implementation of such programmes, it is the commitment of teachers and principals and the strong support of the Ministry of Education, that will give this programme a significant multiplier effect and ensure the sustainability and reach of the SC’s initiative”, added Zarinah.
SECURITIES COMMISSION MALAYSIA
