Junior Achievement (JA) Brunei has begun rolling out programmes across primary and secondary schools as well as sixth form centres nationwide for the year after its official launch as a registered nonprofit organisation on January 20 this year, according to a press release.
Aligned with JA’s worldwide mission, JA Brunei has been readying and inspiring the country’s youth to succeed in a global economy with the introduction of JA programmes that have provided experiential learning in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship to Brunei schools since 2012.
According to the Managing Director of JA Brunei, Louis Tan, the number of schools and students taking part in JA programmes has been growing after the successful launch of their piloted project and road shows. Since then, 16 schools and 800 students have benefitted from JA programmes.
“Another 16 different schools comprising seven primary schools, five secondary schools and four sixth form centres – and a total of 650 students will have benefitted from JA programmes by the end of June this year,” he said.
The three current programmes being delivered to schools in Brunei are “JA More Than Money”, “JA Economics For Success” and “JA Company Programme”.
“JA More Than Money”, a six-session basic financial literacy programme sponsored by HSBC Brunei, teaches youth the concepts of earning, spending, saving and donating money, as well as how to start financial planning at a young age.
“JA Economics for Success” was introduced because it teaches students the importance of exploring career options based on their skills, interests and values, while providing information needed to build strong personal finances. Students also get to learn about spending money within a budget, saving and investing wisely, and using credit cautiously.
“JA Company Programme”, sponsored by Baiduri Bank, focuses on entrepreneurship and work readiness, while imparting knowledge on how to start and manage a business that can prove competitive in the global economy.
In addition, JA Brunei plans to run a financial literacy camp for the country’s youth within the next three to four months, and is also looking for more volunteers.
The week-long event will teach the participants about earning, spending, sharing and saving money, while identifying businesses that participants can start on or jobs they can perform to earn money.
Participants will also play some games to learn money-management skills and to better understand the role and importance of money in their lives. Once details are finalised, more information will be made available at www.jabrunei.org.
