The Ministry of Education (Meduca) and the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP) are collaborating to implement the National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE) in Panamanian public schools. As part of this initiative, workbooks have been developed to teach elementary school students the basic concepts of responsible financial resource use and to promote a culture of saving money from an early age.
Within the framework of the pilot plan, the program will have a positive impact on 5,321 pupils and 273 teachers. The workbooks will be distributed to 10 selected schools, including, Escuela Dr. Belisario Porras (Panama City), Escuela Villa Milagro (Panamá Norte), Escuela Bilingüe Zapallal (Darién), Centro de Educación Básica General Los Molejones (province of Coclé), among others. The didactic material also includes Teacher’s Manuals covering topics such as caring for belongings, local needs, work compensation, responsibility and saving of resources, responsible use of family income, and more.
The drafting and adaptation of this educational material have been supervised by specialists from Meduca in various areas, such as Curriculum and Educational Technology, Basic General Education, Academic Secondary Education, and Professional and Technical Education, along with representatives from the SBP and the Sparkassenstiftung Alemana Latinoamérica y el Caribe. This collaboration ensures that the content is suitable and effective for teaching.
The implementation of NFSE aims to promote basic principles of Financial Education, instill savings habits, reduce indebtedness, encourage the evaluation of financial initiatives, and facilitate mediation in financial matters, among other goals.
The principal of Escuela Dr. Belisario Porras, Aurora Ayala, expressed enthusiasm for incorporating this educational program into the teaching process and highlighted the usefulness of workbooks as didactic tools that enhance workshops and activities with students in an engaging manner.
On the other hand, Giselle González, a Second-Grade teacher at this school, emphasized the importance of teaching her pupils about managing natural resources adequately and its connection to savings, including savings on school supplies.
The Superintendent of Banks of Panama, Amauri A. Castillo, formally distributed the educational material, including the Workbooks from First Grade to Sixth Grade and the Teacher’s Manual. Teachers will be able to access additional didactic material from the Kids Zone on the website Tu Balboa Con Sentido (https://tubalboaconsentido.gob.pa). Likewise, they can download the educational material from the new section ‘Finanzas en tu Colegio’ on this website.
The Superintendent emphasized that “a financially educated society generates a positive impact on its surroundings; this means that if we work together, we can transform everything and, therefore, live in a sustainable world.”
The implementation of Financial Education in schools became possible thanks to Law 374 of 2023, which mandates the teaching of these concepts in every school throughout the country. This action demonstrates Panama’s commitment to educating financially responsible individuals from a young age.
