DOLLARS & SENSE

Cultivate good financial habits early so children will make wise money decisions

- Chor Khieng Yuit

When eight-year-old Emma Wee moved from pre-school to primary school, she made a "big leap" in her understanding of money, according to her mother Emily Poon.

Emma started going to the bookshop or canteen to buy things and had to use her own money.

Her mum always gives her cash for pocket money so she can see clearly how much things cost, what change she gets back and how much extra money she might need if something is too pricey.

Ms Poon's six-year-old son Max enters Primary 1 in 2025 and, like his sister and peers, will also be using money, probably for the first time.

Kranji Primary School teacher Gwen Tan says many young children have not yet encountered situations where they have to think about how to spend their pocket money because their parents buy things for them. So financial literacy programmes help them cultivate good money habits from a young age, she adds.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) introduces age-appropriate financial concepts into the school curriculum at the primary and secondary levels.

Primary school pupils learn basics such as differentiating between their needs and wants, spending within their means and the value of being prudent and accumulating savings.

Primary 1 schoolkids at Kranji Primary play different roles of cashier and customer when their classroom is transformed into a bookshop. The process teaches them how to use money to buy stationery and reinforces their understanding of how to add and subtract, says teacher Deborah Tham.

The school also works with POSB, which organises assembly talks and workshops to teach the children about money.