JA Malaysia Meeting with Ministry of Education

JA Malaysia kicked off 2018 with a 2-day meeting with the Ministry of Education and State Education Heads on two of our major programs in 2018. We started the discussion by introducing a new program which will be implemented this year. This program is supported by the Citi Foundation and is called the JA Social Impact Program. This program is based on our JA Be Entrepreneurial program.

We will be delivering this program to 40 schools from 4 states namely WP Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang. We estimate to have at least 2000 students joining this program from the selected schools. The connection between corporate sponsors and students always bring out the value of all our programs. With the help of Citi Volunteers, we would be conducting a series of workshops at the schools to introduce to the student’s ways of writing a business plan and the various elements that go in it. Students will then have to work in groups to connect with a socially disadvantaged person or organization and help them improve their business. Furthermore, with mentorship from the Citi Volunteers, this program is designed to improve student’s business acumen through writing and improving their business plan while helping a socially disadvantaged business.

The next day our discussion took a different tangent as we discussed about the ever-growing Cha-Ching Curriculum. This year, this Teacher-Driven program supported by Prudence Foundation will see an increase by 10,000 students from 16,000 students in 2017 to 26,000 in 2018. Through our discussions with the Ministry of Education, we managed to highlight the various challenges faced in 2017 and found ways to avoid them this year. To Officially Launch the Cha-Ching Curriculum and boost the morale of the teachers, this year, Prudence Foundation is organizing the very first Cha-Ching Educators Conference here in Malaysia. This event at the Everly Hotel, Putrajaya, will present a chance for the teachers, educators and state education departments to engage and network among each other. The conference will also be a place where participants can upskill themselves and hence to inspire them to understand the importance of Financial Education.

With the help and support of the Ministry of Education, State Education Departments, Teachers and Prudence Foundation, we at JA Malaysia hope to implement a successful Cha-Ching Curriculum in the year ahead.