SEBI Wants Financial literacy to begin at high school

SEBI Wants Financial literacy 

Students at higher secondary level may soon find questions on IPOs, secondary markets, mutual funds and the like in their exam papers, if SEBI has its way.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has been in talks with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to introduce financial literacy as a part of the school syllabus.

Mr U.K. Sinha, Chairman, SEBI, said that at a recent meeting of the Human Resource Ministry, members of CBSE agreed in principle to weave some elements of financial literacy through the curriculum for higher secondary students. “We are making progress towards it, and it may happen soon,” he said. The SEBI chief was here on Monday to address a Regional Investor Seminar on ‘Securities market and the common man'.

The market regulator is adopting two strategies for creating awareness among the investors community. The first of it would be to “catch 'em young” — teach certain elements of financial markets to students. However, according to him, the details are yet to be worked out. “This is only the beginning,” he said. The idea, of course, is to take this initiative to students at the lower level classes too. “Countries such as the US and Australia had included financial literacy as a part of the curriculum for students in the fifth and sixth standard,” he pointed out.

On the other strategy to create awareness, he said SEBI, in association with stock exchanges, their members and the Association of Mutual Funds in India, is in the process of identifying teachers and training them in investor education and intricacies involved in financial markets to enable them provide financial literacy to young professionals.

Releasing a brochure on ‘Mutual Funds - Do's, Don'ts, Rights and Responsibilities', he said that to protect the interests of investors, SEBI is planning to launch a toll-free investor care number, and to introduce a computerised system to expedite the process of grievances redress. Beginning 2012, SEBI is also planning to encourage mutual funds to limit their number of newer schemes.

“They would rather be advised to merge similar schemes in their existing portfolio too,” he said.

rravikumar@thehindu.co.in