The Ministry of Education Fiji and the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme jointly conducted training for 34 retired teachers who will carry out a Monitoring Exercise of the Fiji Financial Education (FinED Fiji) project. The monitoring exercise commences this week.

Monitors will be working in teams of three to four members and will be dispersed to the nine education districts to visit a sample of schools around the country. Deputy Secretary Professional of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Kelera Taloga, impressed upon the retired teachers the importance of using their years of experience while conducting the exercise.

Monitors will be conducting interviews in schools in order to better understand the implementation experience in these schools after FinED Fiji was rolled out nationally in April this year. The national rollout came after national teacher training held by the Ministry of Education over the period 2012 to 2013. The nationwide implementation means that 197,000 students around the country are now learning about personal money management and investment from Class 1 to Form 6. FinED Fiji does not entail the teaching of a separate subject in the classroom or additional lessons, rather it will involve teaching and learning in existing subjects over a child’s twelve year learning journey in school.

Mrs Taloga said Financial Education was a critical initiative that the Ministry has embarked on and the monitoring exercise to be carried out over the month of November was an important step in the implementation process.

“We need to know what has happened since the national roll-out in April. We need to know whether the financial education lessons are being integrated well to the curriculum. We need to know whether the resources are useful and how these have been used in schools,” Mrs Taloga said.

“As former teachers, with vast experience, you will know what is happening in the classroom. It is important that you work with your teams to ensure a successful exercise as the Ministry needs to know what needs improvement and how we can help the integration process of personal money management learning in the classroom,” she said in addressing the FinED monitors.

Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) Regional Advisor Mr. Rueben Summerlin congratulated the monitors on their selection for this important monitoring exercise.

Mr. Summerlin said, “The world is looking at the Fiji Financial Education project. It has received a lot of positive press and attention in Financial Inclusion circles and this means that we need to ensure the sustainability and proper implementation of these lessons. We are counting on you and confident that you will help FinEd in Fiji and the Pacific.”

FinED Fiji has generated strong interest from the Pacific and worldwide. This groundbreaking initiative is funded by the Australian Government and is jointly managed by the Ministry of Education and PFIP.

PFIP is a joint programme of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with additional funding support from the Australian Government and the European Union/Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Microfinance Framework Programme (EU/ACP).