Oman education: Financial literacy for 4,000 students

Energy Sunday 13/August/2017 22:02 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman education: Financial literacy for 4,000 students

Muscat: Three organisations are working together to impart financial literacy to around 4,000 students.
According to a statement by Bank Muscat, “Meethaq hosted a training session for school teachers and volunteers as part of the new phase of ‘Little Investor’.” The programme is meant to train students in, “fundamentals of financial literacy and entrepreneurship.”
This training session was for volunteers and social guidance counsellors, and kicks off the second phase of ‘Little Investor,’ which runs in association with Injaz Oman (a non-profit) and the Ministry of Education.
Target
An operations officer at Injaz said, “We’re targeting 5,000 children in 7th and 8th grade in school, so those first 1,000 were a little like a test run for our systems. What we actually do is train social guidance counsellors, as well as volunteers. The volunteers and social guidance counsellors then, in turn, teach the kids themselves. That’s why we need the Ministry of Education; they contribute schools and teachers to train in these programmes.”
“We’re working on six general aspects of financial literacy, and saving up is only one part. There’s also investing, buying smart, choosing a good loan, and other general aspects. We focus on financial things, because we think children aged 13 to 15 currently do not have access to the kind of information that we provide. Our phase one aspect went very well, and we will be happy to use the feedback, both from the ministry and the children,” added the officer.
Meethaq said ‘Little Investor’ is part of a larger initiative called ‘Imprints.’
Partnership
The statement by Bank Muscat added, “The ‘Imprints’ initiative is a public-private partnership launched by Bank Muscat in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism, Muscat Municipality and the Public Authority for Consumer Protection. The four pillars of the ‘Imprints’ initiative are focused on programmes to inculcate financial literacy, promote sustainable tourism, sustain green environment and encourage enriched lifestyle.”
“Injaz Oman is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at enhancing the skills of youth and increasing their participation in the economy by bridging the gap between the knowledge acquired through education and the skills required by the job market,” Injaz’s website says.