The Practical Money Skills programme wrapped up this week with five outstanding teams selected. — Photo Courtesy Visa Vietnam
The eight season of the annual Practical Money Skills wrapped up on Tuesday with five outstanding teams of students from across the country developingplans topromote financial literacy among their peers.
Jointly organised by The Central Committee of Vietnam Students Association (CCVSA) and Visa, the programme aimed tohelpyoung people address economic challenges they face.
This year theteams of up to three students addressed the issue of “chay tui” (money burns a hole in my pocket). This included sub-themes such as security while online shopping, being careful with contracts, and managing credit to avoid unsustainable debt.
Students were given free rein to develop their plans, and could incorporate any suitable activities, games or media they felt would help to educate their peers about financial literacy.
The team MTU (Mien Tay Universities) from Mien Tay Construction University and Vinh Long University of Technology Education was awarded the grand prize ofa Visa prepaid card loaded with VND20 million (US$877) for the team'scampaign “MTU – 15 days of Savings”. Itimpressed the judges with theircreativity, reach and clarity in conveying a strong financial education message.
Nguyen Minh Triet, permanent vice president of CCVSA, said: “After eight years of cooperating with Visa on this programme, we continue to be impressed by the creativity and hard work from students across the country, no matter whether theyre in one of the major metropolitan centresor in a rural province. The scale of the programme has been expanded from the two major metropolitan centres to nationwide, creating an opportunity for students to explore, experience and practice financial management knowledge and skills for themselves and their communities.”
Since kicking off in Aprilthis year, the programme has seenroughly 1,300 submissions from 4,000 students nationwide, coming from 73 universities across 23 cities and provinces.
Over the course of the programme, Visa and the CCVSA released an online “Chay Tui Prevention Toolkit”, which students were able to draw on for inspiration for their programsme. The kit includes eight useful tools such asthe “Impulse Extinguisher”, to be sprayed in case of reckless spending; the “Lie-spotting Flashlight”, to help peoplebe contract-savvy; and the “Privacy Mask”, to help protect personal information when making online transactions, among others. — VNS