[UPDATED] Central Bank hosts students for Global Money Week

In celebration of Global Money Week, the Central Bank held an educational event for students under the theme, Think Before You Follow: Wise Money Tomorrow, in its auditorium on March 18

With an interactive session hosted by Drama Making a Difference (DMAD) Company, students learned the importance of saving, investing, budgeting and avoiding financial scams.

The auditorium was packed with students from primary schools throughout the country including Roxborough Anglican, Arima Presbyterian and Jerningham Government.

After the session, students toured the bank's museum where they learned about the history of money.

They also visited booths from financial institutions including the TT Stock Exchange where they engaged in educational games to enhance their financial literacy.

Central Bank’s senior manager of human resources, industrial and external relations, Nicole Crooks, spoke to Newsday about the importance of the event.

"This is so important for young people because habits are created when we’re young. We talk about money scripts and if you have poor money scripts you turn into an adult making poor financial decisions. Children also influence parents, they influence teachers and that's why we really value and treasure the opportunity of working with young people.

"We feel very much obligated as part of our financial education responsibility. If we are guardians of the country’s financial stability, then we have to help inculcate the right habits and the right paradigms from young. We talk about the future of our nation being in the school bags of our children and so we really try to live that."

A teacher at Roxborough Anglican expressed her excitement about the event.

"I believe this is an experience the students will take with them throughout their lifetime," the teacher said.

"I have seen the looks on the children’s faces and I know they're delighted to be here. I think this event was really good for the students to get some financial education on how to save and how to spend. With the issues of scamming, they need to learn about it. Even I learned something new today, I was shocked to know the original one dollar bill was blue."

Students from Arima Presbyterian were eager to share how much they enjoyed the event.

"I feel happy and I learned how to invest in stuff and it was a fun experience," said standard four student Natalia.

Her classmate Amara said she enjoyed the tour of the museum and learning about how to keep her money safe in the bank.