Teachers Hail Effectiveness of Prudential’s Financial Literacy Program for Students

In a significant showing of success for the financial education space, British life insurer Pru Life UK has published very positive results of the evaluation of its Cha-Ching Financial Literacy for the Youth Program. Based on the implementation and effectiveness of the Pru Life initiative, grade 2 teachers reported that roughly 60% of their students sought earning opportunities, while an even higher percentage began saving part of their allowance. Over 62% of students participating in the Cha-Ching program also became more focused on their habits relating to spending and overall money management. Similar results were reported by grade 3 teachers.

Coinciding with the release of Pru Life’s financial education results, the company also launched the first Educators Congress on Financial Literacy, which sparked broad awareness regarding the critical nature of financial education in schools and the importance of kids understanding money-related concepts at an early age.

Cha-Ching is now in its fourth year, after initially being launched as one of the first multi-country, multi-platform programs that is designed to assist parents in developing financially educated skills among kids aged seven to twelve years old. The four key topics that the program concentrates on are earning, saving, spending and donating.

Two years ago, the Philippines became the first country to integrate Cha-Ching in grades 2 and 3 after the country’s Department of Education signed a memorandum of agreement to implement the program as part of the school curriculum. For this reason, many industry observers have been waiting for the evaluation results to understand the impact the program has had on both students and teachers. There is broad consensus that the results underscore the success that the initiative has had on participants.

As the Cha-Ching program already has benefited more than 50,000 individuals in only two years, many advocates are pushing hard for its widespread adoption not only in Asia but also throughout the world. Given the advancement of the financial literacy movement in both developed and developing nations, we should expect Cha-Ching and other financial education programs for students to continue to be adopted by schools and community-based organizations, which should further raise financial literacy rates of success in the years ahead.