Fujairah school pupils learn the importance of saving money

More than 70 young Emirati students have been taught about the importance of saving money.

Students in Fujairah listen to a lecture on how to manage their money and pick up the habit of saving. The Tejori programme was rolled out across the emirates. Satish Kumar / The National

FUJAIRAH // Dozens of young Emirati students have been taught about the importance of saving money.

A programme named Tejori, designed to raise awareness about financial responsibility and promote the idea of saving, was held at the Social Development Centre in Fujairah last week.

“The initiative is part of the [social affairs] ministry’s agenda for 2014-2016 and it aims at strengthening the stability of the Emirati families by promoting the idea of saving money to children aged between 6-14,” said Ahlam Al Ali, director of the Social Development Centre in Fujairah.

“It’s very important to encourage and accustom children to save money and know the importance of doing that through understanding the real meaning of money and how it would affect their future.”

The learning sessions were provided by Mariam Hassan, business development manager at programme partner Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, where she taught the students about how to save and how to manage budgets in order to achieve their goals.

“Children during this age should be capable of managing their own financial matters without the help of others and this is what we came for, to teach them how to do so,” said Ms Hassan.

“They should have the knowledge and understanding of the importance of money for the short and long term, and to prepare themselves to be more independent by saving their daily allowance to buy the toy they desire and set their priorities.”

Ms Hassan said that Tejori visited social development centres and schools in all seven emirates since the beginning of the year in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and will continue till the end of 2015.

“Grown-ups should also consider saving money for retirement and emergencies. According to a recent survey, 25 per cent of residents save money regularly while 23 per cent of Emiratis don’t,” she said.

During the lecture, Ms Haasan talked about the meaning of a budget and how to create a plan to balance income and expenses in order to begin saving.

She also advised children to save before spending and to set priorities.

Aya Saeed, an 11-year-old student, said that she will start saving money to buy an iPhone.

“My daily allowance is Dh6 and I intend to save 4 Dirhams a day to buy an iPhone. The lecture was very helpful and I learnt a lot about short, long-term savings and that we should also save for emergencies.”

“I want to save money to buy a professional camera. I love photography,” said Nof Ahmad, a seventh grade student.

“If I save Dh3 a day and saved the Eid allowances as well, I think I will be able to buy the camera by the end of this year, hopefully,” said Nof, 13.

Raghad Adam said that she does not have a particular reason to save yet, but she intended to start saving Dh20 per month.

“I want to save for emergencies – I think it is a good idea. My daily allowance is Dh5 and I decided to save Dh20 per month.

“I liked the souvenir that they gave us today during the lecture, and each time I will see this pen and notepad I will remember to save,” said Raghad, 12.