Financial Literacy Camp
Tiszaroff, August 3-14, 2015
2015 was the first year when Hungary joined the initiative of European Money Week including thirty countries which aims to provide basic financial knowledge to elementary and secondary school students and generate a wide range cooperation of those organizations and institutions which play active role in increasing financial consciousness.[1]
In the focus of this international initiative was the financial education all over in Hungary’s elementary and secondary schools for which all condition was provided to the teachers who joined the initiative by the Hungarian organizers. The Money weeks were adjusted to the schools’ curriculums and the students could learn useful financial knowledge in their own classrooms based on the interactive materials written by experienced teachers and financial experts.[2]
An event of this initiative was organized in Tiszaroff by the Foundation. This was a summer camp for the neighboring settlements’ students who come from deep poverty. The central theme was financial planning and saving which was instructed based on the Pénziránytű Foundation’s Money7 curriculum. The home of this two weeks long camp was the court of the local Reformed Church. Full catering and various programs were offered to every student on weekdays between 9 and 17 o’clock. The Foundation’s microbus helped in the travelling between Tiszaroff and the other settlements. These Roma and not Roma students got the opportunity to learn basic, essential and useful financial competencies which can be really helpful in the everyday life. The education included such questions like what kind of incomes and expenditures one can have, what dissaving means in the context of family etc. The financial knowledge has an outstanding significance in the life which needs to be learned from the early ages.
The teachers did not have an easy job to get the attention of the 50-55 children every day, but with the help of logical, situational and drama games they managed to do this. It was a pleasure to see how smart these kids are in solving different puzzles and exercises. The teachers were really pleased when it turned out that more kids have concrete plans about their future and more children decided to continue their studies in secondary school.
[1] http://penziranytu.hu/penz7
[2] http://penziranytu.hu/penz7