The financial authorities are teaming up with local governments and regional education offices to promote financial education for youth in non-metropolitan areas. The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service will inform teachers and parents in non-metropolitan regions about the educational programs of the financial authorities and encourage the adoption of the subject 'Finance and Economic Life,' which will be introduced in schools starting next year.
According to the financial sector on the 17th, the Financial Supervisory Service will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with North Chungcheong Province, the North Chungcheong Province Office of Education, and Hana Financial Group to promote regional financial education on the 28th. The MOU signing ceremony will take place at the North Chungcheong Provincial Office, attended by Financial Supervisory Service head Lee Bok-hyun, North Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Young-hwan, North Chungcheong Province Superintendent Yoon Geon-young, and Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo. Director Lee will meet with Governor Kim and Superintendent Yoon to promise various support so that financial education can spread to schools in the North Chungcheong region.
Kim Jin-hong, head of the Financial Consumer Protection Bureau at the Financial Services Commission, and other Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service officials visited the South Chungcheong Province Office of Education on the 11th and met with Superintendent Kim Ji-cheol. The topic of the closed meeting was also the promotion of financial education in South Chungcheong Province. Both Superintendent Kim and the financial authorities agreed that raising the demand for financial education among school teachers is a priority. It is reported that Superintendent Kim emphasized that 'school teachers need to be encouraged to increase their motivation for financial education.' He explained to the financial authorities the reasons why teachers in the province are hesitant to introduce financial education, and the financial authorities promised Superintendent Kim to provide teacher training and expand textbook support. Superintendent Kim stated that he would share the financial authorities' promises of support at the National Association of Provincial Education Superintendents.
The reason the financial authorities are seeking measures to promote financial education in rural areas is that the demand for financial education among youth in non-metropolitan regions is lower compared to metropolitan areas. According to the Youth Financial Education Council, 73% of elementary, middle, and high schools that applied for financial education in 2023 were located in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province. Considering that schools located in the metropolitan area account for about 37% of all schools, it shows that there were more applications for financial education from metropolitan schools where the number of schools is small.
The introduction of financial subjects in school curriculums also shows different trends between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Starting next year, a new subject titled 'Finance and Economic Life' will be established in high school curriculums, which is a convergence elective subject. Individual schools must adopt this subject this year for their students to learn about finance in classrooms next year. According to the Financial Services Commission, if the elective rate for the 'Finance and Economic Life' subject in metropolitan schools is 80%, it is reported that the rate in some non-metropolitan areas is below 50%.
The financial authorities recognize the need to address the gap in financial education between metropolitan and rural areas and plan to focus on promotional activities for the 'Finance and Economic Life' subject until June. At the financial education council, which will be chaired by Financial Services Commission Vice Chair Kim So-young later this month, the encouraging measures for the adoption of the 'Finance and Economic Life' subject by rural schools will be discussed. Furthermore, the financial authorities plan to seek cooperation from regional education offices and support training for social studies teachers, as the motivation of school teachers is directly linked to the implementation of financial education.
A representative of the financial authorities noted that 'there are cases where social studies teachers hesitate to introduce the finance subject because it is not aligned with their major,' and stated, 'The financial authorities plan to develop easy and fun financial learning methods to train teachers during the vacation period.'