Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held the 1st zonal level of the All-India Quiz on Financial Literacy at Hyatt Regency, Chandigarh on August 21, 2023, in which state winners from Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh participated. Overall, around 13000 students from approximately 6500 schools participated from the block level altogether in these states. The five teams that competed in the zonal level were Govt. Senior Secondary School, Tapa (Punjab), Government Senior Secondary School Shahbajpur, Padainwas (Haryana), Govt. Senior Secondary School, Mohal, Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), Mahatma Gandhi Government School, Bhinmal (Rajasthan), Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector-32, Chandigarh(UT). Master Amit and Master Bharat of Government Senior Secondary School Shahbajpur, Padainwas (Haryana) were the winners of the zonal round and will participate in the National level to be organised by RBI at a later date. The winners and participants were felicitated by Executive Director of RBI Shri Neeraj Nigam and other dignitaries.
Deepening of financial inclusion in the country has been one of the important developmental agendas. Financial literacy supports the pursuit of financial inclusion by empowering the customers to make informed choices leading to their financial well-being. Towards this end, the National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE) 2020-25 that was framed by the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) in consultation with the financial sector regulators, aims to support the Vision of the Government of India and Financial Sector Regulators by empowering various sections of the population to develop adequate knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviour which are needed to manage their money better and plan for their future. The Strategy enshrines various objectives such as inculcating financial literacy concepts through financial education to make it a life skill, encourage active savings behaviour, develop credit discipline and availing of required credit from formal institutions, improve use of digital financial services, manage risks, be aware of rights as consumer etc.
In this context, RBI has been, from time to time, taking various measures to spread financial literacy among various target of population. One such endeavour in this regard was the rolling out of an All-India Quiz on Financial Literacy during 2023 targeting children of Class VIII, IX and X of government schools.
The quiz that commenced at the block level and was conducted at the district and state level, aims at generating an interest in the student community towards financial literacy in a fast-changing complex world with evolving digital innovations.