While COVID-19 has brought on challenges on all fronts, from healthcare to rising unemployment, it has also brought to light the need for greater financial literacy amongst Malaysians.
As many young Malaysians fall victim to high credit card debt and bankruptcy, the way forward is to empower young Malaysians to develop a healthy relationship with money from a young age.
Championing financial literacy since 2012, Allianz Malaysia Berhad (Allianz Malaysia), through its corporate responsibility arm, Allianz4Good, has conducted over 180 in-class programmes with schools and non-profit organisations nationwide to teach children and young teens basic financial knowledge and money management.
In 2019, the Company piloted its FinWise Kids Programme, an in-house programme specifically curated to empower teachers to be financial literacy enablers. Developed and managed by EdSpace, the programme was carried out as an after-school co-curriculum programme by the participating school’s English Language Society or club, as advised and endorsed by the Ministry of Education (MOE). Further to that, the programme supports Bank Negara Malaysia’s goal of developing best practices for financial literacy in schools, as outlined in their National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019-2023.
Eight schools, three from Kelantan and five from the Klang Valley, were invited to participate in the nine-month programme, which also entailed attending a kick-off training session where they received learning materials for the programme rollout. Three schools from Klang Valley, Sekolah Kebangsaan Yaacob Latif, Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Tun Razak 2, and Sri Bestari Private School from the Klang Valley, completed all nine modules of the programme and received a portable projector worth about RM2,000.
“The goal with our financial literacy programme was to equip young people with financial management skills and the ability to make prudent financial decisions. And through the activities, we hope to instil the desire to practice good financial behaviour,” said Ng Siew Gek, Head of Allianz4Good.