In celebration of the 10th year anniversary of Cha-Ching, an award-winning financial literacy and responsibility program that instills sound financial habits and promotes financial responsibility in children, leading life insurer Pru Life UK, together with Prudence Foundation, the community investment arm of Prudential in Asia and Africa, the Department of Education (DepEd) and Junior Achievement (JA) Philippines, conducted a variety of virtual financial wellness activities for Cha-Ching teachers and students in the Bicol Region.
A financial wellness talk for teachers entitled Market Entry Strategy Plan was presented by Mr. Orlando Ballesteros, Chief Operating Officer of Exlinkevents; a Cha-Ching Jingle Writing seminar and contest was hosted by Ms. Sheena Lee Palad, a songwriter; while a business plan competition for students themed How to Earn during a Pandemic was led by DepEd. These activities were conducted virtually via Zoom and broadcasted live through JA Philippines’ Facebook page.
“We are delighted that the Philippines continues to represent our largest Cha-Ching country. Working in partnership with the DepEd and JA, over 9,000 teachers have been trained and more than 460,000 students have been benefitted through the Cha-Ching Curriculum since its launch. As part of our continued efforts to make Cha-Ching and financial literacy more accessible, we will be launching an online educational game for children to practise their money management skills soon,” shared Marc Fancy, Executive Director of Prudence Foundation.
Cha-Ching, Prudence Foundation’s flagship financial education program for children was launched in 2011 in partnership with Cartoon Network Asia and children’s Education Specialist, Dr. Alice Wilder. The program began with 18 animated episodes, which through engaging characters and songs, aimed to teach children aged 7-12 the key money management concepts of Earn, Save, Spend and Donate. These episodes continue to be broadcast every day across Cartoon Network channels in Asia, reaching over 35 million households across the region and 4.3 million in the Philippines.
The Cha-Ching Curriculum, which brings financial literacy into classrooms at schools ensuring that key concepts are being understood by children, was launched in Bicol in 2019. In the academic year of 2020-2021, over 4,400 teachers were trained under the Curriculum and more than 100,000 students (90% of all grade 4 students in Bicol) completed the Curriculum.
A total of 81% of Cha-Ching teachers in the Philippines who passed the Cha-Ching Financial Accreditation (CCFA) online assessment, including the national CCFA award winners for the Educator of the Year Award and the Cha-Ching Bling Award in 2020, were all from Bicol.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, students continue to benefit from the Cha-Ching program as part of the DepEd’s distance learning framework that has been implemented across the country. In Bicol, 60% of students taking part in the program for this academic year, learned through radio-based instructions.
The Cha-Ching Kid$ At Home initiative was also rolled out last year to provide effective tools for children to learn the concepts of money management while at home with their parents. These include practical activities encouraging discussions around money as part of everyday life. The materials are available and can be downloaded from the Cha-Ching website.
Pru Life UK’s innovative approach to digitizing financial learning among Filipino children and families is recognized by the 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. The company will be awarded a Silver Stevie Award at a virtual award ceremony which is set to take place on July 14.