Insurance firms roll out financial awareness program for students

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA) has launched two initiatives that seek to increase financial awareness among high school students.

Gregorio Mercado, president of PLIA, cited the need to address the low rate of financial literacy in the country and help Filipinos understand how insurance can help them fulfill their goals.

“PLIA strives to contribute to the Insurance Commission’s efforts to propagate the importance of financial literacy,” Mercado said.

With this, the PLIA has started to roll out a program that aims to create a financial education curriculum geared towards Philippine secondary schools.

The curriculum will cover topics such as identifying financial needs and choosing financial products, as well as sample lesson plans, student activities and assessment and downloadable classroom teaching aids.

The Department of Education is expected to validate all the content included in the curriculum, PLIA said.

Once created, it will be made available through an online portal, and will be  accessible to parents, teachers and students, alike.

The insurance group said its long-term target was to have the curriculum adopted by secondary schools into their programs.

 “PLIA is proud to have started developing something today that will eventually represent an institutionalized intervention in increasing public awareness on the value of life insurance through our education system,” Mercado said.

Meanwhile, PLIA also announced its partnership with the Foundation for the Advancement of Life and Insurance around the World (FALIA) to conduct a series of lectures in different public and private high schools in Metro Manila.

The lectures will be centered on life insurance and its benefits to individuals and their families, as well as to national development.

 An essay writing contest would also be sponsored by the two organizations, running from September to December this year. Top three winners will get to enjoy an all-expense-paid trip to Japan and other prizes.

Mercado said the launch of these two programs marked the celebration of the Life Insurance Consciousness Week from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7.

Insurance commissioner Emmanuel Dooc, for his part, said agency fully supports PLIA’s programs.

“We are starting them young so that when they grow older, they will become financially literate,” Dooc said.

“They need financial literacy training and if we can incorporate this in our curriculum, then we are preparing our young to become savers conscious of insurance protection and the need for sound investment,” he added.