New B.C. curriculum aims to teach students financial skills
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PRINCE GEORGE— A new provincial curriculum and graduation program will incorporate financial literacy in mathematics and career education, as well as applied design and technology, starting next school year. The new financial literacy curriculum comes in response to the many students who graduate with a lack of financial skills.
Students in B.C. performed better than the Canadian average when the Programme for International Student Assessment tested B.C. students. However, financial experts say many young people only start taking responsibility of their finances after they face troubles, with something like credit.
“There has to be an intervention by the schools and our education system to be able to give our students and young people the knowledge to both use and make financially responsible decisions in the future,” Beverley & Associates Licensed Insolvency Trustee Melody Desmarais says. “Without those tools, they’ll make irresponsible decisions and get into trouble.”
Basic skills about how money is used, as well as the basics of saving and budgeting, will be taught in all grades. By the time students reach grades 11 and 12, they will learn more advanced topics such as how to file taxes and learning what they can do to financially plan for the future. Other resources and experts outside of the school district will also come into classrooms to teach lessons.
