The national Strategy for Retirement and Financial Capability recognises that the early inculcation of financial capability core skills (budgeting, planning, saving, value of money, financial resiliency, planning for the future, digital financial literacy, financial abuse, and consumer financial right), in children, is more likely to have long term positive effects than seeking to instill them at a later stage in a person’s life.
The strategy views children as change agents in their out right. In our society, parents and grandparents still sit down with their children or grandchildren and work through their school work with them. This allows for knowledge transference in two ways – from the parents and the grandparents to the kids the transference of money management values such as the importance of saving; but also from the kids to their parents and grandparents particularly with regard to new and emerging skills, such as, for example, digital financial literacy and the use of financial digital Apps and tools.
With this in view, ĠEMMA, once traction was gained, teamed up with the Education Officer for Accounting and Business Studies at the Department of Learning Assessment and Programmes within the Education Division to determine a programme of works that would meet immediate gaps. One of these gaps was the need for local content that enables teachers to teach financial capability in a fun and engaging way. Today, we see the culmination of this initiative – with 6 ebooks, written for the Maltese context in a fun way and attractively designed by the 5 to 11 year old pupils and students.
In August 2020, the Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family, and Children’s Rights teamed up with the Ministry for Education to launch a competition for the design of ebooks to allow teachers and parents to teach pupils in education Levels 1 to 6 financial capability (budgeting, saving and investment, debt, rainy day, retirement, customer rights, and financial abuse) in a fun way.
The competition attracted 51 submissions across two categories – Years 1 to 3 (ages 5 to 8); and Years 4 to 6 (ages 8 to 11). The winning submissions are the following:
Years 1 to 3 (ages 5 to 8) | 1st | Ġemma ma’ ĠEMMA | Ramona Attard |
2nd | Ġemma A u Ġemma N | Domenica Pace | |
3rd | Dak li tħobb iġġemma’ ĠEMMA | Chris Azzopardi | |
Years 4 to 6 (ages 8 to 11) | 1st | Friski u ħajjin | Rodianne Incorvaja |
2nd | Ġimagħtejn ma’ ĠEMMA | Ramona Attard | |
3rd | ĠEMMAtibdaġġemma’ |
Years 1 to 3 (ages 5 to 8)
Years 4 to 6 (ages 8 to 11)
The Education Officer for Accounting and Business Studies at the Department of Learning Assessment and Programmes prepared the learning themes and the learning objectives that an education professional or you as a parent should strive to achieve when using any one of the Fun ĠEMMA education ebooks as a learning resource.