The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has urged senior high school (SHS) students to handle the Ghana cedi with care and pride to help extend the lifespan of the currency and reduce the cost of printing replacement banknotes.
The appeal was made at a one-day financial literacy sensitisation programme organised by the BoG for selected senior high schools at St James Seminary Senior High School in the Sunyani Municipality of the Bono Region.
The initiative forms part of the central bank’s efforts to promote financial inclusion and strengthen financial literacy among young people by exposing them to key banking concepts and responsible financial practices at an early age.
Participating schools included St James Seminary Senior High School, Goka Senior High School, Drobo Senior High School, Notre Dame Girls’ Senior High School, Koase Senior High School, Berekum Senior High School, Odumaseman Senior High School, Chiraa Senior High School and Istiqama Senior High School.
The programme covered a wide range of topics, including responsible saving and investment, identifying BoG-licensed financial institutions, safeguarding personal banking information, recognising fraudulent investment schemes, complaint resolution procedures and the security features of genuine banknotes.
An official of the Financial Stability Department of the BoG, Mr Emmanuel Ansu-Gyeabour, said the central bank had over the years undertaken similar public education programmes for various groups, including personnel of the security services and market women, to deepen public understanding of the Bank’s mandate and operations.
He said the BoG was now extending the initiative to senior high schools, adding that 10 out of the 30 senior high schools in the Bono Region had been selected to benefit from this year’s programme.
Mr Ansu-Gyeabour encouraged the students to cultivate the habit of saving from an early age to secure their financial future.
He also took participants through the different categories of regulated financial institutions within Ghana’s financial system and explained how to identify BoG-licensed institutions in order to avoid falling victim to Ponzi schemes and other fraudulent investment operations.
An Economics tutor at St James Seminary Senior High School, Mr Kwadwo Yeboah, commended the BoG for organising the programme and appealed to the central bank to collaborate with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to extend the initiative to junior high and primary schools across the country.
He said introducing financial literacy at the basic school level would help educate and empower children on the role of the central bank while improving financial literacy nationwide.
The interactive session allowed students to ask questions on issues including the design of Ghana’s banknotes, where the currency is printed and the measures the BoG puts in place to protect the cedi against counterfeiting.
FROM: DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
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