The Teaching Children to Save South Africa (TCTS SA™) programme kicked-off in KwaZulu-Natal with professionals from the banking industry and financial sector volunteering as ‘teachers–for-67 minutes’ to impart savings lessons to young learners.
The programme’s 2011 national launch took place at Ntuzuma’s Sondelani Combined School today with a keynote address delivered by KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Ina Cronjé, while the Islamic Finance Chapter TCTS SA™ launch will be held at Durban’s Al-Falaah College on 19 July – the guest speaker will be Mr Edwin Pillay, Chief Director in the MECs office in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education.
Programme inception was in July 2008 and has since then been rolled out on an annual basis during Savings Month, July. This year the theme of the programme is “Save 4 A Better Future”. The national launch, today, on Nelson Mandela Day, 18 July is in keeping with the day’s focus on voluntarism, individual action to spark a change and the ultimate goal of empowering communities.
A committed and established culture of saving has a significant impact on a nation’s economic fate. Educating the nation’s youth about solid savings principles and practices is an important step in that direction – a move that the Teach Children to Save South Africa™ programme has been championing for four years now.
The need to entrench sound savings principles amongst our youth has never been more urgent – the 2010/11 Global Competitiveness Report listed South Africa’s gross saving rate as equating to 16% of our GDP in 2009 comparing unfavourably to India’s 37% and China’s 52%. We are also an instant gratification society that is overly reliant on debt as a form of financial transaction–which erodes away at savings efforts.
“We regard the Teach Children to Save South Africa™ programme as an important part of the education and empowerment of South Africa’s youth,” explained Fikile Kuhlase, Senior General Manager, Socio-Economic Growth and Development at The Banking Association. “Our country is not immune to global economic fluctuations, and it is critical that we equip our young citizens with information to help them realise achievable savings goals and strategies. We’re encouraged by the positive response of the learners and volunteers who participate in the programme. We’re also proud to be associated with the Nelson Mandela Day, and applaud our various volunteers for selflessly giving of themselves to the betterment of our society.”
Message to TCTS SA™ from the Nelson Mandela Day Coordinator, Frank Meintjies: “We believe that volunteering, selflessness and community service are important components in building a values-driven society. We link volunteering to the idea of positive change and of building a worldwide movement for good. We can, as Nelson Mandela advised us, create a better world via small steps, through the giving of our time and service to others. The idea is to work towards a world in which human suffering has been eradicated. Through service and voluntarism we enhance our humanity, the humanity of others and of the world we live in.”
The TCTS SA™ programme has since grown significantly since inception 4 years ago The outreach target for the 2011 savings campaign is 100,000 learners at 500 schools nationwide with greater outreach through the programme integration with other financial literacy and employee volunteerism initiatives. The programme is coordinated by The Banking Association South Africa. In a two week long financial literacy programme, professionals from the banking and financial sector will take to classrooms nationwide to teach learners from grades 4-7 achievable savings strategies, simple budgeting, being able to distinguish between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ and the benefits of saving utilising a lesson plan developed in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and integrated within the school curriculum. The anticipated outcome of the programme is an improved awareness of empowering financial management tactics, and conscious spending habits amongst the youth – especially relevant, in light of the consumerist society that we live in. The vision of TCTS SA™ is to inculcate a culture of saving so that we have a future generation of savvy savers.
We launch today in Durban in support of the KZN Financial Literacy Association’s initiative. This is an effort championed by the KZN MEC for Finance to provide strategic direction and co-ordination of financial literacy in the province.
For further media queries please contact:
Sandisiwe Gugushe
The Banking Association South Africa
Tel: 011 645 6728
Fax: 011 645 6828
Cell: 071 685 8753
Dreamcatcher
Tel: 011 447 5655
Cell: 082 559 1802
E-mail: sandisiweg@banking.org.za
