Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil Presents Awards to Participants of Maybank – MoneyTree Financial Literacy Programme at Tunku Kurshiah College
Seremban, 1 November 2010 — Y.B. Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development today presented certificates and awards to students of Tunku Kurshiah College (TKC) who completed the Maybank-MoneyTree Financial Literacy Programme. This programme is the first ever financial literacy programme to be offered by a financial institution to residential colleges.
The Maybank-MoneyTree Financial Literacy Programme is a joint effort between Maybank and MoneyTree, aimed at helping secondary school students aged 13 – 17 understand the importance of financial planning and developing them into financial savvy individuals.
Tunku Kurshiah College, one of the top residential colleges in Malaysia as well as a Malaysia Smart School, is the first residential college to participate in this financial literacy programme.
More than 250 students of TKC from Forms 1, 2 and 4 have completed the three month programme organised by Maybank and MoneyTree that was held from April to June 2010. They received their certificates and awards from Y.B. Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, a former TKC student at a special presentation ceremony.
Also present were Choong Wai Hong, Executive Vice President, Community Financial Services Maybank, Dato’ Nik Kamaruddin Ismail, Chairman, MoneyTree Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Che Kamaliah Endud, TKC Principal, senior officials from the Education Department as well as the Presidents of TKC’s PIBG and Old Pupils Association.
“This Maybank-MoneyTree financial literacy programme is part of Maybank’s corporate responsibility efforts to promote financial education and awareness among the young as well as to instill the spirit of entrepreneurship among tertiary students. We are encouraged by feedback from students who now realise the importance of financial management and are aware of the pitfalls of bad financial management that causes debts and its related problems,” said Choong Wai Hong in his address.
The programme comprises three (3) weeks of one (1) hour lessons and a final graduation week where students go through a Financial Literacy Challenge. The winners of the challenge were rewarded with scholarships into MoneyTree’s school.
“Since the programme began in January 2010, more than 1,200 children have undergone the programme including over 150 college students under the “Maybank-MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (Y.E.S.) Challenge" for youth and college students. TKC’s success in this pilot programme for colleges will assist us in planning similar programmes in other colleges,” added Choong.
The programme which is certified by Open University Malaysia – School of Lifelong Learning, involves a high level of interaction amongst students and puts them in a true-to-life simulation, focused on shaping the right money habits. “Today’s younger generation are exposed to the many ways in which they could easily chalk up a high debt. Financial Literacy is no longer an option and we are glad that Maybank has enabled this programme to reach a wider audience” adds Brandon Liew, CEO of MoneyTree Malaysia Sdn Bhd.