Well Being Shiksha Foundation is an NGO it is working in collaboration with all stakeholders of education and banks to promote financial literacy by nudging India’s youth towards experiential learning of the basic concepts of: a. Financial Awareness: It is the ability to use the knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively and efficiently and it helps in improving the standard of living. b. Financial Knowledge: Financial knowledge is the knowledge they acquire in all the concepts related to financial well-being and finance. c. Financial Skill: Financial skill talks about whether an individual person can make decisions with the financial knowledge that he/she has. d. Financial attitude: It is the personal inclination or attitude towards all financial matters. It is to plan something in advance and implement it accordingly. e. Financial Behavior: It is the management of a person’s savings, and expenditures budget. Financial behavior is very much important because it helps us understand how financial decisions in case investments, risks, debts, etc., are influenced by human emotions, bias, etc. Well Being Shiksha Foundation conducted a series of workshops in Government schools in Delhi, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Bihar, and Pune and acted as a change agent to transform the behavior of school students of class 6 to 9 by taking four pillars of financial well-being: i. Savings ii. Spending iii. Investing iv. Donating The objective of the Well Being Shiksha Foundation was to transform the behavior of school students towards savings before spending money. They were told to assign a specific name to their savings for example Geeta of class 6 wanted to buy a beautiful blue dress. So she was told to make a piggy bank from waste material and make a painting of a blue dress that she wanted to buy on that piggy bank. Later she was guided to mention the price of the dress. Whenever Geeta used to look at her piggy bank with the caption, “My Blue Dress” it drove her to save before spending, in other words, it became easy for her to save. The aspiration to buy that blue dress helped her to plan to save before spending.
Students were guided to put a price tag on their savings that helped them to decide on short- term financial goals. The financial diary of the Well Being Shiksha foundation helped school students to prepare a budget and note down the expenses on a regular/weekly/ monthly basis. This helped them to learn how to divide expenses between needs and wants. They were told to mark all expenses incurred on wants in red and all savings in green. This helped them to identify unnecessary expenses and balance the budget.
Students were nudged to open a recurring deposit account (RD). School students have started depositing Rs.100 to use that money for future use and have even found out their short-term desire i.e. and have learned to increase short-term savings and decrease spending. Students have learned what is savings and how savings can be beneficial for them. Now they have started sensitizing their friends and family members by explaining the importance of savings : · Savings is the process of setting aside a portion of current income for future use. · Savings is the portion of income that is not spent on our expenditures. · Savings plays a vital role in every person’s life and savings are set aside for future use.
A person should have a savings attitude. For example, we can save money by opening a recurring deposit account in a bank and constantly saving money till the maturity date. · Savings reduces costs and expenditures and is very much helpful to each person. So, every person should have a habit to save part of their income as savings provides financial security and it also gives freedom and provides security in case of financial emergency in the future. · We can avoid debts by saving money. If we save money, we can reduce our stress, reduce our financial risks. · Saving is important because it provides financial support and financial independence. We can even buy a new house or buy a new vehicle as per our needs and it is helpful in case of financial emergencies i.e., medical, health emergencies, etc., and in case of unforeseen expenses. Savings helps in building wealth and having a secure financial future.
· The main moto of these change agents is to sensitize people to “Save More and Spend Less” · For that, they know that it is a must to prepare a budget every month to reduce expenses and save more. The expenditure on which they spend is divided into needs and wants. · They understand the need is something that is essential or necessary for them to live. Need includes food, water, shelter, clothing, and air to breathe. Even medical care comes under a need. A want is something that can improve the quality of life of every person. Want includes the entertainment expenses like going to a movie for enjoying that moment, even buying ice cream, it becomes a want because we don’t need ice cream to survive.
Students have realized that they can save money by following the below points a. Track the expenses and prepare the budget b. Spend on the essentials c. Set saving goals d. Decide on priorities e. Increase the bank deposits The students across different schools have launched a saving campaign and prepared saving slogans to nudge their friends and family and relatives. Well Being Shiksha Foundation Interns have prepared posters to promote the saving campaign across India.
