Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity – ĠEMMA
Ministry for Education and Employment – Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes
Financial Capability Education Fun Books Competition
ĠEMMA Know, Plan, Act within the Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity and the Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes within the Ministry of Education and Employment launched a competition on the writing of financial capability education fun books for primary school pupils. The objective of these education fun books are to assist teachers in introducing pupils to matters relating to financial capability concepts such as budgeting, planning, saving, and spending amongst others.
Both ĠEMMA and the Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes are of the considered view that the inculcation of basic financial capability principles at the primary cycle of formal education is likely to have beneficial long term impacts in preparing tomorrow’s adults to be more financially capable and active citizens.
The competition targets these financially capability education fun books for the following categories of pupils:
| Ages 5 to 8 | Years 1-3 |
| Ages 8 to 11 | Years 4-6 |
Persons participating in this book competition are to write on one or many of the following key life skills that the Strategy for Retirement and Financial Capability sets out that Maltese citizens must acquire to be financially capable. These are managing a debt; budgeting; building a safety net; planning for the future; understanding basic investment; understanding basic consumer rights.
Participants in writing a financial capability education fun book are to entwine in the story cross curricular references to one or more of the following: inclusion, healthy living, diversity, Maltese traditions, and mathematics.
The author of a book may, but is not obliged, submit accompanying drawings to the text. Any drawings are to take into incorporate the ĠEMMA character (honey bee). The books can be written in Maltese or English. The prizes for each category are as follows: 1st – €3,000; 2nd – €2,000; 3rd: €1,000. The competition closes on 30th September 2020. The rules of the competition can be downloaded from www.gemma.gov.mt.
Minister Michael Falzon stated that the “Financial Capability Education Fun Books competition launched by the Ministry and ĠEMMA together with the Ministry for Education is an important step forward as it is directed to provide primary schools teachers with the resources that allow them to introduce to pupils important financial capability life skills at a very early age. The competition ensures that emerging and established authors are encouraged to apply their talents and creativity to write books on financial capability that whilst being educational are also fun, engaging, and captivating.”
Minister Owen Bonnici explained how, “this competition has the objective of encouraging new comers and established authors to create an engaging narrative that promotes different aspects of financial capability directed at primary school students. The end objective is to publish winning narratives in digital format as e-books to act as a resource for pupils on financial capability. We wish to make learning an enjoyable journey for our students and I’m sure that with initiatives such as this competition, we are on the right track to help our students choose the path they wish to take in the education sector. As a Government, we have always been committed to help our students as best as we can and provide them with the necessary tools in order to help them develop further their skills and capabilities. I encourage all those interested to take part in this competition which will positively benefit our children and future generations.”
David Spiteri Gingell, the ĠEMMA Team Leader within the Ministry for the Family, said that the launch of this competition is one other of a series of activities that ĠEMMA has worked with the Directorate of Learning and Assessment Programme, with an essential focus on primary schools – with activities presented both at Skolasajf, within primary schools, as well as activities targeting primary students. These included an interactive educational play called ‘ĠEMMA Ftit’, a poster competition, an e-education game amongst others.