G2K pushing financial literacy course in high schools
Published:Thursday | January 6, 2022 | 12:12 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
As schools received the green light to reopen for face-to-face learning on Monday, Romario Sterling, policy chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party's Generation 2000 (G2K) young professional affiliates' group, is advocating for the inclusion of financial literacy in secondary curricula.
Sterling, who has a passion for money management because it influenced his foray into the world of investment banking, told The Gleaner on Wednesday that financial literacy should be a mandatory course of study for young people.
He recalls his interest being piqued while reading the 1997 book Rich Dad Poor Dad, written by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, which was gifted to him by his stepfather.
The tome taught him “that the only way in which you can create wealth is through investing and developing passive income through investing, whether it be through real estate, a business, or paper assets such as stocks”, he said.
That knowledge caused him to get involved in the stock market.
Sterling later won a stock trading competition at The University of the West Indies, which led to a finance internship at Sagicor Investments.
After that apprenticeship at Sagicor, Sterling realised that he wanted to be an investment banker.
Currently, Sterling is an assistant manager in VM Wealth's Capital Markets unit.
“Financial literacy helped me to achieve upward social mobility. As a young man who grew up in Seaview Gardens, through education and financial literacy, [I] was able to take myself out of that community,” he remarked.
Crediting financial literacy as a tool to alleviate poverty and reduce social inequality, Sterling said that G2K is gearing up to have the course introduced in dozens of schools as a subject by March 2022.
Twitter Spaces
The first formal introduction of the project will take place through discussions hosted on the social media site Twitter via the feature Twitter Spaces. That forum will bring together stakeholders to debate the value of the paradigm shift for the next generation.
Sterling told The Gleaner that G2K hopes to engage young professionals, finance influencers, the Jamaica Bankers Association, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the Jamaica Stock Exchange, and other interested individuals or groups to provide direction to the education ministry in order to make the dream a reality.
The project will initially target 40 high schools across the island.
“We live in a society where most Jamaicans aren't exposed to this kind of knowledge, and this lack of knowledge on how to create wealth and maintain good finances is one of the key contributors to the continuation of the cycle of poverty,” said Sterling.
He further stated that G2K anticipates that the initiative will have a knock-on effect on the economy in the long term.
The course content is expected to be delivered online, which will also improve digital literacy. They also propose that assessments will be done through gamification, which will not only engage and interest students but also evaluate their critical thinking skills.
Sterling asserts that G2K believes the onus is on the organisation to play a role in ensuring that “the future generation is well equipped with the skills necessary to transform Jamaica into the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business”.
“Once a subject like this is packaged properly and delivered innovatively, I think it will be well received by students, parents, and teachers in education system,” said Sterling.