Schools were asked to introduce a new subject

The State Duma is pushing financial literacy because of “theft and social engineering”

The Ministry of Education in the State Duma was proposed to make financial literacy lessons another subject in schools. They say that now knowledge about the family budget, banking operations and other “budgetary important” is scattered. They are crushed at school during lessons in mathematics, geography, computer science and the surrounding world. Sometimes in social studies. And we need an integrated approach to ensure that school graduates are financially successful. And did not succumb to the manipulations of telephone and other financial scammers.

The head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, addressed the educational department with such an initiative and a letter. According to the parliamentarian, “the main mercantile thing” that needs to be taught to schoolchildren today is “topics related to personal finance, protection against fraud, and budget planning.” Otherwise, the majority of Russians “knowledge in this area is at a rather low level.”

Separately, Aksakov focused on cases of “fraud, theft, social engineering,” when people are defrauded of their savings and forced to also take millions on credit. Like, “there’s been a lot more of this lately.” That’s why absolutely everyone needs financial education from school: “the future doctor, and the teacher, and any humanist, and those who will be involved in business and finance.”

But it is also true that the curriculum is the same bolivar that can no longer bear anything. Or, as Larisa Tutova, a member of the Duma Committee on Education, said, the new subject “will make the school curriculum heavier, which is already overloaded.

Recognizing the importance of financial education, the deputy called for “updating the content of textbooks” that contain sections or information on financial literacy. There was also a proposal to “talk about financial topics” at “Conversations about Important Things,” class hours with invited experts. “Recently, more and more new fraudulent schemes have appeared that you need to be aware of,” added Tutova.

The idea is good and not new. The subject “Financial Literacy” exists and has been positioned as mandatory since 2022. But the catch is that it is officially part of a high school social studies course. Recently it became known that social studies will be made only for 10-11th grades (currently the subject is taught from the 7th grade).

There are also work programs on financial literacy as a separate subject, but there is also a variety of them: for grades 5-9, for grades 7-11, there is even one for elementary school. Regional and university programs, a financial literacy program as an element of training in social and humanitarian areas in Moscow…

These programs have a lot of useful things. For example, in the version of the Tula region, much attention is paid to the payment relationship between “person and state,” banking manipulations, and maintaining the family budget. There is a whole paragraph about financial risks, but not a word about scammers. And the program from the Moscow department takes this possibility into account. There is a paragraph “About the possibilities of financial fraud, and what you need to do to avoid becoming a victim of scammers.”

The subject “Financial Literacy” is included in the school curriculum in the regions and in individual metropolitan classes at the “professional” level: economics, management, even engineering. But mentally, “Financial literacy” in schools is still not perceived as such, on a par with “Rhetoric”, “Technology”, “Cooking”, and various workshops. And this despite the fact that situations under the motto “don’t hide your money…” are off the charts. And everyone who has gadgets has encountered various attempts at theft, imposed services, double tariffs, and other things.

– It seems to me that teachers can give some general information about finances, budget planning, etc., as part of some topics or a separate lesson,” says programmer and cyber threat prevention specialist Semyon Delichenko. – But experts should talk about fraud. These could be representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or people from the bank. It is important to convey to teenagers that opening any wrong link on a computer or phone, receiving a “prize” or installing an incomprehensible application will lead to the loss of money. That you can generate a voice and even an image if you try. And any information about an accident or “request” from parents, grandparents and others, if it is unusual, must be verified.

The point of inviting experts to schools is precisely because fraudulent schemes are often updated. Something new appears every six months, and the curriculum will not keep up with it.