PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry is working towards building a cashless eco-system in schools.
Education Minister Maszlee Malik said the cashless programme was part of its efforts to boost financial literacy among schoolchildren, as seen in Bank Simpanan Nasional’s Student Savings Encouragement Scheme (SGSP).
“Each student will be exposed to financial literacy. Other programmes being drafted include the Cashless School programme.
“This is in the pipeline and marks another cooperation between BSN and the ministry,” he said after presenting awards to the best students and schools with strong growth of savings and high participation in SGSP.
Maszlee said the ministry and BSN had reached a consensus to conduct a pilot project in selected schools for the Cashless School programme.
“There are already schools heading towards being cashless, for instance, SK Bukit Lanjan. Now, we want to expand it to other schools as well.”
The minister also cited China’s cashless society as an example that the country could learn from.
For SGSP, the minister said 8,073 schools or 79 per cent of the 10,180 schools in Malaysia had taken part in the savings programme via the said scheme or other BSN financial literacy programmes.
“We work with BSN to encourage savings among schoolchildren and build better awareness on financial literacy in schools.
“For BSN, these programmes are its corporate social responsibility initiatives and for the ministry, it is part of our efforts to encourage students to be prudent in their spending and to save for a rainy day,” said Maszlee.