The education ministry is working on integrating the national financial literacy school curriculum into the formal education curriculum.

The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) presented the draft of the curriculum to the education ministry during the global money week earlier this week. The Royal Institute of Management (RIM) developed the curriculum.

Education ministry’s deputy chief programme officer for School Planning and Coordination Division, Pem Tshering, said that the draft curriculum submitted by RMA would be further deliberated with Royal Education Council to integrate the curriculum into the existing curriculum.

He said that the financial concepts, risks, skills and knowledge from the draft would function as a supplementary reference for teachers to teach and for students to refer. “For instance, a teacher teaching any subject which has reference to financial concepts and literacy can use the book as a teaching material or as a reference.”

Work on drafting the curriculum began about a year ago under RMA to promote financial education and inclusion among the youth.

RMA’s Head of Financial Inclusion and Literacy Division, Nangsi Dema, said that in Bhutan, formal education does not include financial literacy as part of the curriculum.

She said that having a financial literacy curriculum would educate the future generation for smart and informed decision-making. “The students will be educated on learning to earn before learning to connect with any financial institutions. Other countries have such curriculum and our objective is to bring a smarter and financial literate future generation.”

The draft curriculum includes lessons on learning to earn, importance of saving, smart shopping, digital financing, importance of credits and their usage among others.

Nangsi Dema said that RMA’s objective is to reach almost all the grades and also focus on students who might move for choices other than formal education. “This is why the curriculum is made very generic. However, further discussion will take place to decide on it.”

For a better inclusion of the financial literacy modules in the curriculum, RMA will provide first hand Training of Trainers to the ministry of education, which will be further disseminated to the teachers.

Phurpa Lhamo        

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