Russia's most financially literate teacher contest - finalists' names are announced 20.04.2010

Russia's most financially literate teacher contest - finalists' names are announced

Moscow - The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) supported by the Citi Foundation ran Russia’s Most Financially Literate Teacher contest in the framework of the HSE’s All-Russia economics Olympiad for school students. Teachers fr om Voronezh, Kostroma and Lipetsk became winners of the event which attracted participants fr om 19 regions of the country.

To determine financial literacy, the primary and secondary school teachers participating in the contest were given a 10-question test. The questions were on basic knowledge in personal finance – borrowing, insurance, investments, banking services, taxation and personal financial planning.

The competition average score was 7 out of 10 and the three most common mistakes were the following:

  • Nearly 70% of the teachers believe that when the bank’s license is revoked, the depositors get only the principal amount but not the interest (in fact, both the principal and the interest will be reimbursed within the 700,000 rubles lim it per bank)
  • Nearly 53% think that FOREX inter-bank market trading is regulated by the Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) (Russian legislation does not regulate FOREX market trading, so trading in an unregulated market poses higher risks for private investors than that in a regulated stock market).
  • About 58% do not know that bank accounts are taxable (deposit income above the established income lim it is subject to a 35% tax).

After the test the teachers wrote two essays on the following topics: a) What financial literacy events does your school arrange; b) What steps would you recommend to enhance teacher and student financial literacy?

The competition attracted teachers from the cities of Novosibirsk, Lipetsk, Kostroma, Voronezh, Uoglich, Ivanovo, Krasnoyarsk, Saint-Petersburg, Omsk, Tomsk, Pskov, Cheboksary, Yakutsk and Tambov as well as the Republic of Mari El, the Komi Republic, the Stavropol Region, Orenburg Oblast and the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The most well-considered and practicable essays coupled with top performance on the test brought the victory to the following three participants:

  • Vera Victorovna Matersheva (Voronezh, Academician Basov gymnasium)
  • Ekaterina Victorovna Bukhareva (Kostroma, Economics, Business and Law School for further education)
  • Andrei Aleksandrovich Korchaguin (Lipetsk, Youth Economics Education Center, municipal gymnasium No. 64)

The finalists got a 40,000-rubles certificate each with the money to be remitted to their personal accounts. The contest results will be posted on the ABC of Finance - the financial literacy portal.

The participants demonstrated keen interest in the competition noting its importance in motivating teachers to enhance their financial literacy. They took back home copies of the test for their own studies as well as use in school work.

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The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) unites efforts of business, government and public to enhance contribution of business to sustainable development. The IBLF-Russia’s mission is to facilitate responsible conduct of business for Russia’s stable social and economic development. Detailed information is available on the following web-sites: www.iblf.ru, www.iblf.org.

CITI is the world’s leading financial company servicing nearly 200 million client accounts in over 100 countries. It delivers a broad array of financial products and services to private individuals, corporations, government bodies and institutions. More detailed information is available at www.citigroup.com and www.citi.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Natalia Smirnova
Financial Literacy Programme Manager, editor of educational web-portal, IBLF (www.azbukafinansov.ru), International Business Leaders Forum

T: +7 495 916 70 80

M:+7 916 842 73 86
E: natalia.smirnova@iblf.ru


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