Pru Life UK, Cha-Ching empower educators through second financial literacy conference

MANILA, Philippines – Following up on the successful launch of the program last year, British life insurer Pru Life UK recently hosted its second Cha-Ching Educators’ Conference on Financial Literacy, bringing together 200 principals and teachers from private and public schools nationwide. The one-day conference highlighted anew relevant and valuable lessons to help educators champion fundamental money-smart values in the classroom and in their daily lives.

Designed to financially empower teachers and partners of the Cha-Ching Financial Literacy of the Youth program, the learning sessions featured some of the country’s top subject matter experts on financial literacy, including author and PhilStar.com columnist Rose Fres Fausto, SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises chairperson Edwin Salonga, and Pesos and Sense host Aya Laraya. Junior Achievement-Asia Pacific president Vivian Lau and Knowledge Community senior researcher Charina Ubarra rounded up the day’s speakers.

This year’s conference adopted the theme, “Investing in the Financial Literacy of the Next Generation” and focused on a variety of financial literacy topics including financial intelligence quotients, social entrepreneurship for personal financial empowerment, relevance of financial management skills to childhood, and practical money-saving strategies and challenges.

“This year’s bigger and grander Cha-Ching Educators’ Conference is a culmination of our series of Cha-Ching activities, which aim to provide opportunities for our collaborators to strengthen 21st century skills and practical knowledge on financial literacy,” shared Pru Life UK senior vice president and chief marketing officer Belle Tiongco.

“For us at Pru Life UK, it is more of a celebration of our four milestone Cha-Ching years – a life-changing experience in which we have built a network of Cha-Ching ambassadors who ‘walk the talk’ and who share the same advocacy in promoting financial literacy in the Philippines,” she continued.

In addition to the learning sessions, Ubarra also discussed the evaluation results of the third implementation year of Cha-Ching. The evaluation revealed that students under the Cha-Ching program experienced an immediate change in money management practices such as prioritizing savings and exploring entrepreneurship as a viable option for earning. The same was also observed of the financial skills of the teachers as more of them applied the money-smart lessons to their own personal finances. One hundred per cent of teachers and principals who implemented the program said they would continue to implement it and recommend it to other schools.

To celebrate the money-smart partner schools, educators and students, winners of various Cha-Ching competitions for 2015 were also announced.

Named Cha-Ching School Project Proposal winners were Bagumbayan Central School in Legazpi City (gold) and Stonyhurst Southville International School in Lipa City, Batangas (silver).

For the Cha-Ching Financial Literacy Educator Award, winners were Marlon Roperos of the Einstein School for Kids in Quezon City (silver) and Michelle Sangalang-Panopio of Stonyhurst Southville International School, Batangas (bronze).

Lesson plan competition winners were April Ann Curugan of Philippine Normal University-Institute of Teaching and Learning in Manila (first place), Princess May Roberto of Einstein School for Kids, Quezon City (second place), and Lowel Amit of West City Elementary School, Dumaguete City.

A poster competition for students was also held with Zion Bolivar of Sta. Rosa Elementary School Central 1 in Laguna bagging first place, followed by Auldey Rocero of Tañong Integrated School in Malabon and Jannah Maffei Mesada of Janiuay Pilot Elementary School, Iloilo.

Pru Life UK’s flagship corporate social responsibility program, Cha-Ching is the first multi-country, multi-platform program that aims to help parents in Asia teach children basic money management skills to children aged seven to 12. It was launched in Hong Kong in 2011 by Prudential Corp. Asia, the regional headquarters of Pru Life UK.

The Philippines was the first country to integrate Cha-Ching in the grade school curriculum following the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education in April 2012 for the integration of the Cha-Ching in the Grade 2 curriculum.

It has expanded its coverage to a total of 47 public schools in NCR, Northern and Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao for academic year 2015-2016. Cha-Ching is likewise concurrently being integrated in the syllabi of 29 partner private educational institutions.