Old Mutual to impart money management skills to learners

In a move that seeks to improve financial literacy in schools, Old Mutual (SA) and the Department of Education (DOE) today launched a financial education toolkit aimed at equipping learners (grades 4,5and 6) with money management skills that would stand them in good stead once they earn an income.

The on The Money Toolkit, which is a support resource for educators, consists of games, activities, posters, flash cards and assessment and lesson plan ideas. The toolkit will be piloted in 500 beneficiary schools as identified by the DOE and is now being rolled out in schools.

Through playing the games and carrying out the activities, learners will be required to read, write and comprehend, as well as apply mathematical skills. The games can be played over and over again and learners will not notice that they are learning, but rather having fun.

The resource has been designed in such a way so as to allow learners of various multiple intelligences and abilities to process knowledge, skills and values through non-threatening and self-paced learning experiences.

Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, said: “The evolution of the education environment is requiring different needs and the launch of this vital resource is a response to that evolution. The financial education toolkit also demonstrates the value of public-private partnerships in delivering the government agenda.”

The National Curriculum Statement focuses on a number of critical knowledge areas, and Economic and Management Science has been identified as one of the knowledge areas that require attention. “Therefore this intervention would hopefully improve the teaching and learning of the Learning Area in the classroom,” added Pandor.

Marshall Rapiya, MD of Old Mutual Retail, said: “ Skills and capacity development is a key element of Old Mutual’s economic transformations effort and financial literacy is o¬ne of the areas that we have earmarked to support.”

As a responsible financial services company, added Rapiya, Old Mutual is using this opportunity to teach learners sound money management principles drawn from the Big Five animals of Africa as part of the group’s financial education drive.

“The primary objective is to create a future generation of savers with solid financial behaviour,” said Rapiya.

There are other initiatives that Old Mutual supports such as the school name boards, the school diaries, and the provision of Lapdesks to needy schools. All these interventions are geared towards making learning and education a priority in the lives of our learners.

Gavin Linderts, Old Mutual financial education manager, explained that the toolkit will provide a new and exciting way of teaching Economic Management Sciences (EMS) and will allow teachers to integrate across Learning Areas with ease.

In order to ensure that the current developed EMS Toolkit is not a stand-alone development, said Linderts, Old Mutual commit to also develop the foundation, senior and Further Education Training (FET) phases along the similar quality standards.

Further, in order to strengthen family financial literacy, Old Mutual would also train the parent communities attached to these 500 beneficiary schools, through its “On The Money” personal financial wellbeing programme.

Finally, Old Mutual would also offer “On the Money” training to the broader communities surrounding these beneficiary schools in order to ensure a common understanding of the principles of sound money management as depicted in the toolkit.