Cambodia in a first for Southeast Asia’s developing countries will introduce a pilot scheme to add financial literacy into school curricula, the Phnom Penh Post referred to the country’s education, youth and sport ministry.
The project will first start respective classes at selected schools in Kampong Cham, Kampot and Siem Reap provinces. They will be added to grades one to 12 with the goal of improving students’ understanding of how to manage their money from an early age, Mok Sarom, deputy head of the ministry’s education directorate-general, said.
“We are incorporating financial literacy, information technology and foreign languages in order to respond to the context of Industry 4.0,” he said, referring to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Developing financial intellect
Sarom added that the trial of blending financial knowledge lessons into school curricula would involve four subjects: mathematics, moral and civic education, basic life skills and housekeeping.
He said the ministry had already prepared textbooks on the subject and trained lead teachers from the three provinces to deliver the lessons and pass their knowledge on to their colleagues.
The goal of the extra classes is to develop financial understanding and intellect of students, particularly when it comes to loans, credit and their general attitude to money management, according to a respective training manual.
“Valuable life skill”
Ly Bunna, director of the Siem Reap provincial education department, lauded the initiative, saying it would provide a “valuable life skill to students.”
He, however, added that as the initiative is still in the developmental stage, its integration into the four subjects is not completely smooth as yet.
“We have identified a few small difficulties during the trial phase; we are looking into improving the integration process before it becomes part of the nationwide school curriculum,” he said.
Not everyone fully agrees
Ouk Chayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, supports the integration of the topic into school curricula but suggested that it should begin at secondary school level, or grade seven, when students are more mature.
“I think grade one is too early to understand financial matters. I think the time would be better spent on Khmer language skills. Some students even reach grade seven without being able to read the Khmer script fluently,” she pointed out.
Cambodia in a first for Southeast Asia’s developing countries will introduce a pilot scheme to add financial literacy into school curricula, the Phnom Penh Post referred to the country’s education, youth and sport ministry. The project will first start respective classes at selected schools in Kampong Cham, Kampot and Siem Reap provinces. They will be added to grades one to 12 with the goal of improving students’ understanding of how to manage their money from an early age, Mok Sarom, deputy head of the ministry’s education directorate-general, said. “We are incorporating financial literacy, information technology and foreign languages in order…
Cambodia in a first for Southeast Asia’s developing countries will introduce a pilot scheme to add financial literacy into school curricula, the Phnom Penh Post referred to the country’s education, youth and sport ministry.
The project will first start respective classes at selected schools in Kampong Cham, Kampot and Siem Reap provinces. They will be added to grades one to 12 with the goal of improving students’ understanding of how to manage their money from an early age, Mok Sarom, deputy head of the ministry’s education directorate-general, said.
“We are incorporating financial literacy, information technology and foreign languages in order to respond to the context of Industry 4.0,” he said, referring to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Developing financial intellect
Sarom added that the trial of blending financial knowledge lessons into school curricula would involve four subjects: mathematics, moral and civic education, basic life skills and housekeeping.
He said the ministry had already prepared textbooks on the subject and trained lead teachers from the three provinces to deliver the lessons and pass their knowledge on to their colleagues.
The goal of the extra classes is to develop financial understanding and intellect of students, particularly when it comes to loans, credit and their general attitude to money management, according to a respective training manual.
“Valuable life skill”
Ly Bunna, director of the Siem Reap provincial education department, lauded the initiative, saying it would provide a “valuable life skill to students.”
He, however, added that as the initiative is still in the developmental stage, its integration into the four subjects is not completely smooth as yet.
“We have identified a few small difficulties during the trial phase; we are looking into improving the integration process before it becomes part of the nationwide school curriculum,” he said.
Not everyone fully agrees
Ouk Chayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, supports the integration of the topic into school curricula but suggested that it should begin at secondary school level, or grade seven, when students are more mature.
“I think grade one is too early to understand financial matters. I think the time would be better spent on Khmer language skills. Some students even reach grade seven without being able to read the Khmer script fluently,” she pointed out.
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