Mumbai: The Department of Mathematics at Pawar Public School, Bhandup, celebrated Financial Literacy Week from 5th December 2022 to 10th December 2022. The school set up a replica of a Bank in the auditorium of the school and christened it the PPSB Bank.
Principal Suma Das inaugurated the bank and a few students from all the sections were chosen to play various roles required in a bank- cashier, loan processor, branch manager, investment representative, receptionist, teller, and relationship manager among other important roles. Many students also posed as customers at the bank.
Principal Das said, “Our endeavour was to educate our young minds and create awareness on access to financial services (banking), availability of various types of services and their features and to make them understand their rights and responsibilities as customers of financial services.”
Students of pre-primary sections to standard 10th were given the opportunity to explore all the available counters set up at the Pawar Public School Bhandup Bank. After understanding certain necessary procedures - debit cards, withdrawal and deposition of money, and debit cards - using the working models of ATM machines, the students were enamoured.
Students at Pawar Public School Bhandup learning to use ATM machine
Moreover, the visitor-students were explained how to open an account, fill out slips, the different kinds of cheques, passbook printing, demand drafts, exchange of currency, shares and mutual funds, e-commerce, educational loans, etc.
Interestingly, to make the experience even more realistic for the students, they were also given tokens and were asked to wait for cash withdrawal until their token number was announced at the counter. The idea behind the entire project was for them to have in-depth knowledge about e-commerce and banking services.
Students learning about investment
Das told the Free Press Journal that the PPSB Bank was neither newly thought of nor was it a matter of just some weeks. “It was a part of our yearly plan,” she said.
The principal added that the introduction of concepts like financial needs and wants, savings, functions of the RBI, fake currency, budgeting, types of banks, GST, and Liability versus Asset right from the beginning of the academic year helped the school ideate the concept of Financial Literacy.
“With the setting of a PPSB bank, we can now proudly proclaim that our learners have an understanding of basic financial concepts,” Das said.
