By Merlina Hernando Malipot
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones underscored the importance of financial literacy among students during her keynote speech for the Sun Life Financial Philippines’ Sinag Teachers Summit held recently in Quezon City.
The event was attended mainly by teachers from Senior High Schools (SHS) and colleges in the National Capital Region (NCR). This summit is also part of Sun Life’s financial literacy efforts, which aim to enjoin more teacher-participants to the cause.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones
(FEDERICO CRUZ / MANILA BULLETIN)
“My challenges to our teachers – take new and exciting paths, know and love the country more, discover things never known before, and learn skills you never had before,” Briones said.
Briones also explained that it is the mandate of DepEd to “ensure that economic and financial education becomes an integral part of formal learning,” as stated in Republic Act No. 10922 or the Economic and Financial Literacy Act.
“One law is requiring that financial literacy should taught to our students,” Briones said. “And so if we teach financial literacy to our high school students, the teacher should be in a position to teach and to practice, in very practical ways, financial literacy – thus, providing them with financial literacy courses and seminars,” she added.
Briones also conveyed her gratitude to Sun Life and other partners who help the DepEd in providing these learning platforms to teachers. “We truly appreciate what Sun Life is doing, along with other private and public institutions, in capacitating and providing our teachers with lectures and seminars about financial literacy,” she said.
Furthermore, Briones underscored that the Department is and will always uphold the rights of the teachers and other employees, and shared the recent developments in the expansion of their welfare and benefits.
Briones also mentioned how teachers are loved and revered not only by their students but also by the community. “There's something about the teaching profession which is beyond the salary,” she said. “Teachers are not only loved they are also revered,” she ended.