The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) announced this week that it successfully held a one-day event in which it sought to bolster financial literacy awareness among secondary education teachers.
The event, which was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, took place on Saturday, December 10.
The one-day awareness campaign was attended by the Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou, while greetings were addressed by Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides and the Central Bank of Cyprus governor Constantinos Herodotou.
In addition, the event was also attended by high-ranking officials from the central bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, as well as representatives from the local academic community.
According to an announcement from the central bank, the aim of this initiative was to inform the teachers about the overall effort launched by the state, which is coordinated by the central bank, to promote financial literacy.
Moreover, the event also highlighted the important role of teachers in achieving the goals of the national strategy on financial literacy and helping facilitate the transfer of financial knowledge to young people, primarily students.
Welcoming the conference, central bank governor Constantinos Herodotou underlined the key role of teachers in promoting financial literacy.
“If we manage to enable today’s students, who are due to finish secondary education, to be able to understand and make rational financial decisions during their lives, we will have achieved something very important,” Herodotou said.
“Because the financial future of our country depends on these young citizens who are today forming the way they think and shaping their personality,” he added.
In the announcement, the central bank mentioned that since December 2020, the CBC has been effectively supporting and coordinating the operation and implementation of the ad-hoc committee established for the promotion of financial literacy and financial education in Cyprus.
The national strategy on financial literacy was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on June 28, 2022.
During the conference, George Kyriacou,a senior director at the Central Bank of Cyprus, presented the national strategy to the participating teachers and also referred to the international campaign to raise awareness and strengthen financial literacy among young people, Global Money Week, which is also coordinated by the CBC and scheduled to take place on March 20-26, 2023.
Furthermore, Panayiotis Andreou, associate professor of finance at the Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak), presented the results of a recent study on the level of financial literacy of young people in Cyprus, aged 15, as well as the main conclusions of previous studies.
In addition, he also informed the public about upcoming actions in the field of training financial literacy instructors.
Andreas Milidonis, an associate professor of finance at the University of Cyprus, broke down his experience in coordinating and teaching a financial literacy course at the University of Cyprus, as well as in private secondary schools.
Finally, he also presented the results of a study by the University of Cyprus, regarding the diffusion of financial knowledge by the students of the financial literacy course among their close family circle.
