Bankers to teach financial lessons to underprivileged children in Malaysia

Great Heart Charity Association (GHCA) recently partnered with OCBC Bank (Malaysia) to bring financial literacy to 21 underprivileged children at Thangam Illam Welfare Society.

OCBC Bank in Malaysia has teamed up with Great Heart Charity Association (GHCA) for providing financial literacy to the underprivileged children. Under the project, 30 banking professionals have been drawn from the bank to teach the kids lesson on earning, spending and saving through a series of fun learning activities.

Thor Boon Lee, Country Chief Risk Officer of OCBC Bank, kick off the event with a presentation on the history of money and taught the children how to differentiate between "needs" and "wants" as a lead up to good financial planning. The children were later taken through a series of "stations" where they could simulate earning cash, spending at a store or saving at the bank.

The OCBC Bank staff volunteers also prepared a special arts and crafts workstation where the children were encouraged to express their creativity through the use of plasticine in order to simulate earning cash. With the "cash" earned, the children were allowed to either purchase food, snacks and books at the store or save it in the bank which would earn them interest. Thor was pleasantly surprised to discover that most of the children chose books over food and snacks.

"The books could well have been viewed as a "want" item, but you smart kids opted to view it as a "need" item. Kudos to all of you," he said during his closing speech to the children. GHCA's event coordinator Oon Jia Li said learning is more effective when education elements are incorporated into interactive activities. "I am glad to see the children were made to realise the importance of saving as the majority of the cash "earned" was saved rather than used to purchase anything and everything," she said.

The children were later awarded prizes for performing well at the stations as a form of encouragement. OCBC Bank staff volunteers also contributed additional gifts to the children including pencil cases, toothbrushes, toothpaste and towels.