A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned. We might agree with the phrase, but little do we really give it any thought. Though crucial, financial literacy is one of the least discussed topics among the youth of Pakistan. It might fascinate us to see someone managing their finance so well but rarely it has inspired anyone to learn this skill. Or do we really take it as a skill? Being a third world country most of our problems are revolving around this word “paisa” (money) but what’s unfortunate is that we are never taught to manage our finances. And goes without saying, it is more of a bottom-up approach rather than top-down because if a child is not made to learn the importance of saving, budgeting and trading-off small desires in order to achieve a long term goal, he will grow up with a habit of just spending and never saving or investing, consequently, is likely to compromise his future for not having a plan for a dark cloud. Since our educational institutions pay more concentration on scholastic skills rather professional skills. The lack of training in the subject, ‘Financial Management’ is a leading cause behind poor financial decision-making which is why our economy remains stressed.National Financial Literacy Program (NFLP-Y), a project commenced by the State Bank of Pakistan in collaboration with the National Financial Institute of Banking and Finance is keeping a noble vision of stabilizing economy through disseminating financial literacy among youth. The project is aimed to equip our youth with the basic cum essential financial understanding so that they can take on effective and independent financial decisions.What is worth all the appreciation, is the amount of effort being put into making this course effective. There is no better option than coming up with the idea of developing a story-based game alongside interactive composition in form of book. Researchers have proposed that students learn more effectively from stories than mere lectures, as stories grab the attention of students instantly. The game, PomPak – Learn to Earn and the pomegranate book series appears to be very well structured and systematically designed which is distributed free of cost among various age groups or could be downloaded for free from Google Play store or Apple App Store.
As a district coordinator working with NFLP-Y from the last three years’ l have noticed that after taking financial literacy workshops students are showing keen interest in learning about finance and are also coming up with interesting ideas for their new businesses. The financial understanding inculcated via this course has sparked new confidence in our youth to head on face a financial setbacks and see-through possible solutions to overcome them. National Financial Literacy Program for Youth (NFLP-Y) encourages creativity and critical thinking, and aims to give Pakistan problem solver entrepreneur youth that will contribute in constructing financially stable Pakistan.
Muhammad Iqbal
District Coordinator NFLP-Y, Nawab Shah Sindh, Pakistan