The CNB supports the financial education of the youngest schoolchildren
The Czech National Bank has provided 201 schools with almost 10,000 financial literacy workbooks free of charge for their youngest pupils. Children in the first to third grades will start learning from them as of September 2011. With this new project, the CNB is further broadening its long-running activities to make the general public more responsible in dealing with personal finance.
“Financial education should be a part of our life from childhood. Parents, who should set an example to their children by managing their finances sensibly, have a significant role to play, of course, but economic and financial literacy must also be taught at school – already in the lowest grades,” said CNB Bank Board member Eva Zamrazilová.
The Czech National Bank has sent a total of 9,670 workbooks “Money and finance – Financial literacy for the first to third grades of primary schools” to 201 selected schools in the Czech Republic. The books are based on the current general education programmes of the Ministry of Education. In class, pupils will learn where money comes from and how to recognise the protective elements of Czech banknotes. They will also “visit” a bank, get to know the function of advertising and learn that goods can be returned.
The workbook “Money and finance – Financial literacy for the first to third grades of primary schools” by Eva Skořepová was published by Fragment in 2010. The publication, which uses the child characters Katie and Philip as guides, will acquaint schoolchildren with the world of money with the aid of colourings, cut-outs, gap-fills and anagrams as well as using examples of situations they know from their homes.
The Czech National Bank has long promoted public financial literacy. In 2008 it sent Czech schools more than 4,000 manuals for teachers and workbooks for pupils of primary schools and academic secondary schools. It also organises seminars for teachers and lectures for senior citizens at universities of the third age. Together with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, it is responsible for the National Financial Education Strategy. In 2010 it carried out a joint project with the Ministry of Finance to measure adult financial literacy in the Czech Republic.
Marek Petruš
CNB spokesman