Raising the bar in finance education

A PRE-PANDEMIC World Bank report outlined the poor performance of Filipino students in key literacy subjects. The Department of Education identified quality as the major challenge in Philippine education that caused the underperformance of students in national achievement tests. The crisis in Philippine education. It cited the results of three international assessments that Filipino students recently took part in. These included the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science study and the 2019 Regional Report of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics. They noted that more than 80 percent of Filipino children do not know what they should know with their poor performance deeply rooted in limited proficiency in the languages in which schooling takes place. Our insistence on using English as the mode of instruction at the primary levels backfired. It also cited an unacceptably poor school climate and high levels of bullying. his pre-pandemic report raised the alarm throughout the nation, and the situation became worse with the pandemic lockdowns. This is a crisis that we cannot simply delegate to the Department of Education. We have a lot of catching up to do, and we need everyone's involvement to raise the bar to get us out of this crisis. The recent passing rate results of the Certified Public Accountant board exams also showed a spiral and appears to validate this crisis in education. From a range of 41 percent to 36 percent during the period 2015 to 2017, this went down to a range of 14 percent to 28 percent from 2018 to 2023. These statistics tend to confirm the findings that the quality of education has to be improved despite the bumper crop of Latin honors in many of our colleges. The Financial Executives Institute (Finex) organized committees to raise the bar in financial training by working with the academe. Finex is hopeful that these programs would improve the state of finance education in the country. Its Business Education Committee regularly conducts lectures for finance educators to update them on the developments in the economy and how these relate to principles that are being taught. Another committee, the Junior Finex Committee (JFinex), conducts campus tours so finance students can learn from industry practitioners. JFinex is also involved in academic stakeholder engagements that regularly review the relevance of the finance curriculum in colleges. Another project is the Inter-Collegiate Finance Competition (ICFC).

The question bank for this competition is updated every year by three international organizations. These partners are the Chartered Finance Analyst Philippines, the Certified Management Accountant Philippines and PwC Philippines-Isla Lipana. These partners bring to the table the skills and knowledge that are needed to succeed in global finance. The 23rd ICFC will be held this October with the finals scheduled in November. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will be the event sponsor. They have been supporting this project for over a decade. This bank began operations in the Philippines in 1961. Since then, the firm has expanded its presence into a fully integrated franchise comprising Investment Banking, Treasury and Securities Services, Equity Sales and Research and Trading operations. JPMorgan Chase & Co has a number of legal entities operating in the country. The Manila branch of the bank, which has a commercial banking license as well as a derivatives license, a securities company with a seat on the Philippine Stock Exchange and a global service center supporting the firm's businesses around the world. The bank has been a long-standing advocate and Finex partner for the promotion of finance education in the country. This year, Finex is inviting more than a hundred schools to participate including some foreign universities. The elimination rounds will be held simultaneously in seven cities across the country facilitated by an online fully automated system hosted by another partner, Forecasting and Planning Technologies Inc. The finalists will be hosted in Manila in November and the final round is scheduled to be held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). In the past competitions, JPMorgan reminded the participants of their role in mobilizing other young individuals in recognizing the value of financial education and literacy in making decisions to secure their future. This reminder tied-in perfectly with another Finex advocacy to promote financial literacy across all segments of the society, promote savings and help develop the capital market. The BSP in a previous message also reinforced these valuable points to the students. 

They emphasized the importance of aspiring for excellence in their studies and their future careers. They reminded the students to maintain their integrity, build character and protect their reputations as they go through life. They also reminded them to "stay chill" in the midst of all the anxieties and challenges that they are facing in today's environment. This last point is an important reminder because of the mental stress that many individuals are experiencing because of the uncertainties. In relation to the development of the capital market, Finex recently held the Ayala-Finex Finance Summit. This is the seventh summit that was organized to discuss both current issues and future trends that would affect all finance professionals. The objective of this year's summit was to understand the state of the domestic capital market and compare this with the developments in the region. We also wanted to understand the opportunities in the Singapore market where many of our local companies have attracted new investors. There was consensus in the presentations by both the local and foreign finance leaders that we have to catch up in the development of our infrastructure and our economic base. The economy is consumer driven, but we need more than this. This, in turn, would attract investments. Just as important would be the adherence to governance principles including the enforcement of regulations and laws to give both domestic and foreign stakeholders the confidence that they are operating on the same level playing field. Although there have been substantial achievements in the capital market blueprint that were reported during the summit, there are admittedly still gaps, and we have to exert more efforts to catch up with the rest of our neighbors. It is the only choice we have to improve the lives of a big part of our population that are living on the fringes to ensure a stable future for all of us.