Today, representatives of the Financial Sector Development Program (USAID/FINREP-II) announced the results of All-Ukrainian pilot course in Financial Literacy, which was taught in 86 schools from September 2012 until May 2013. The pilot project was implemented under the auspices of the National Bank of Ukraine and in close cooperation with the Banking University of the National Bank of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
3,400 students aged 15-16 representing 18 regions of Ukraine took a course in Financial Literacy. 85 specially trained teachers were faced with the task of giving school children insights into practical aspects of financial planning, teaching them to manage their own finances and developing students' responsible behavior as consumers of financial services.
The Financial Literacy Course Syllabus was designed for a full academic year of 2 terms (semesters), or 30 lessons and consisted of 4 units: Money and Finance, Savings and Investment, Borrowing, and Insurance and Personal Budgeting.
The project participants had access to specially designed course materials. In particular, "Official curriculum for Form 10" and "Financial Literacy: Manual for Teachers" were available for teachers. Students were provided with "Financial Literacy: Textbook" and "Financial Literacy: Workbook for Students". They also had access to on-line resources.
"The pilot project, which was launched to introduce a course in Financial Literacy in the school curriculum, beat our expectations. The course has proved to be effective in raising levels of financial literacy among the students who have taken a course in Financial Literacy (by 20 percentage points – from 45% to 65%)”, said Mr. Robert Bond, Senior Financial Literacy Expert of the Financial Sector Development Program (USAID/FINREP-II).
The experts from the National Bank of Ukraine acknowledge that the financial literacy of households is an essential part of efficient protection of the rights of consumers of financial services and the backbone of the country's financial independence.
"Teaching Financial Literacy in schools has been given a high priority as one of the measures to increase financial literacy among the Ukrainian population. What is more, children are fast learners. It is easy for them to perceive information. Furthermore, financial education has a long-lasting effect and in the long run it will fundamentally change the mentality of the entire generation of citizens in one stroke. The successful implementation of the Financial Literacy Pilot Project is practically assured. Moreover, there is already a great deal of interest from teachers in this course, which has prompted us to design an integrated course of financial literacy for all the levels of the secondary school, thus making financial literacy education available to a broad range of age groups. By the way, we have approached the Ministry of Education and Science with a proposal to arrange courses in Financial Literacy at summer camps for children," said Mr. Oleksandr Arsenyuk, Deputy Director of General Monetary Policy Department of the National Bank of Ukraine.
We would like to remind you that the National Bank of Ukraine is implementing the Action Plan for 2013 designed to increase the level of financial literacy among the Ukrainian population, which has been developed as part of the National Strategy for the Protection of the Rights of Consumers of Financial Services. This Plan envisages that a number of large-scale educational projects targeting different social groups will be implemented under the auspices of the National Bank of Ukraine