KOTA KINABALU, Nov 19 — The collaboration between the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) and vocational colleges in providing financial literacy programmes to Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students equips them with better financial management skills as well as realise the importance of takaful.
MTA chief executive officer Radzuan Mohamed said the Shape Your Future #FitFinances 2.0 programme is specifically offered to TVET students because they now form one of the largest groups of human resources in the country and in response to the call from the government.
He said the first and second series of literacy programmes held for 150 students each, at the Wawasan Negara Kaki Bukit camp in Perlis and the Wawasan Negara Gunung Pulai camp in Kulai, Johor, respectively, were well received.
"Here in Sabah too, we are pleased to see the TVET students' enthusiasm and this programme can be viewed as one of the financial literacy targets in Sabah, particularly, and Malaysia as a whole,” he told Bernama after the closing of the Shape Your Future #FitFinances 2.0 by Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Julita Mojungki, here yesterday.
The three-day course was the third series of the programme, involving 100 students from vocational schools in the state, held at the Sabah Region Fire and Rescue Academy.
Radzuan said the participants were also introduced to Takaful4All to prepare them to face unforeseen work and family-related circumstances beyond their control, in the future.
AKPK chief executive officer Azaddin Ngah Tahir said the programme conducted by AKPK is a holistic course that not only focuses on credit management but also on emotional, mindset, physical and spiritual aspects.
He said participants are taught how to manage their finances systematically to enable them to contribute to their families and society and be debt-free.
AKPK is focusing on the younger generations because based on statistics those under credit management and counselling are between 30 and 45 years of age due to a lack of financial knowledge when they first started working.
Therefore, he said AKPK's role is to ensure young people entering employment will be equipped with good financial management practices right from the start and not get burdened by debt.
"Finances must be viewed from emotional and spiritual angles too. If a person is not calm, they probably would not make good spending choices,” he said, emphasising the importance of caring for one's emotional and physical well-being, as it could lead to overspending.
In a statement after the programme, MTA said its main objective was to provide financial literacy to vocational college students through intensive workshops with various activities and rewards for tasks completed.
The Shape Your Future #FitFinances 2.0 is an initiative under Bank Negara Malaysia's Financial Sector Blueprint 2022-2026, which sets out Malaysia's development priorities for the financial sector.
MTA said the financial literacy programme is in line with the Value-based Intermediation for Takaful (VBIT) framework which includes empowering the Financial Inclusion Framework (FIF) 2023-2026 towards a society based on inclusivity.
It is the main principle in the agenda of national socio-economic development to ensure every level of society can enjoy the benefits of economic growth regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and locality.
— Bernama
