By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Teaching kids the difference between a piggy bank and a commercial bank may be a good way to lay the foundation for turning them into financially sensible citizens.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Saturday that its finance education program has seen triple growth in the number of participants from two years ago. The government's financial regulator and its partner firms taught some 134,122 citizens last year, compared to 82,346 in 2008 and 43,325 in 2007.
More than a half of them were pupils at elementary, middle and high schools. The rest were their teachers, as well as college and university students, soldiers, farmers and jobseekers.
Pleased with the growing popularity of the program, the FSS plans to meet more than 150,000 students this year with help from partner firms and educational institutions.
"The activation of the education network will greatly enlarge finance education opportunities for the young generation. We will also look at the demand for financial education from the relatively underprivileged citizens, such as farmers, fishermen, the unemployed and immigrant families," the FSS said in a press release.
Pupils learn about modern finance systems at middle or high school, but surveys have shown that they have a relatively poor knowledge on the subject compared to their age groups in Western countries. In the FSS's assessment, South Korean high school students' average score was only 55.5 out of 100.
Lack of financial sense and intelligence has made people victims of scams such as Ponzi schemes, and led them to reckless investment decisions and eventual bankruptcy. The reasons for this incompetency are various.
Some blame Korea's relatively short exposure to Western-style capitalism, since financial jobs such as merchants and bankers were socially disapproved of until the late 19th century. Others think that the college entrance exam is too focused on a few core subjects such as math, Korean and English.
As the government agency is responsible for financial crimes and scams, the FSS has been trying to supplement the paucity of official education at schools with its own. The major breakthrough was made last September, when it called upon 17 financial firms and government institutions to make a network for financial education.
The group now has some 100 lecturers, who visited 329 schools in November and December alone following requests. The subject matter of the classes differs by age and grade, though they all use animated films and books.
High school students may learn about why it is important not to "put all eggs in one basket" when designing one's investment portfolio. Elementary school classes start with the more fundamental, and probably more profound and philosophical subject of "What is money?"
The FSS teaching materials are similar to the "Jump Start" program in the United States and "My Money" in the United Kingdom. For more information, including application forms for visiting lectures and teaching resources, visit https://edu.fss.or.kr.