2023-12-14 16:01:19
“In progress but can do better. » This could be the assessment given by a professor to the financial culture of the French. According to the latest OECD survey published on Wednesday December 13, our country ranks 14th out of 39 countries with a score of 12.45/20, a slight improvement compared to the first edition (12.17/20). The survey notes, for example, that our fellow citizens still have room for improvement in understanding the mechanism of interest rates, the impact of inflation on savings or even a propensity to consume rather than save.
In order to gradually improve things, all 4th grade students in France will take their “Educfi passport” in a few weeks, which allows them to learn how to manage a budget. Tested for the first time in 2021 in 80 classes, the system piloted by the Banque de France under the aegis of the Ministry of National Education gradually ramped up with 50,000 4th grade students the following year then 220,000 the year pass.
“A knowledge base for making informed decisions”
And so in 2024, and for the first time, it is an entire generation which will obtain its Educfi passport since it is the 30,000 4th grade classes, or 750,000 students who will be trained. “We are working for the future generation,” explains Stéphanie Lange-Gaumand, director of financial education at the Banque de France. The Educfi passport allows everyone to have a foundation, a knowledge base to make informed decisions in this area. »
Especially since according to a survey conducted by the CSA institute, 91% of young people aged 15 to 17 already have a bank account or savings account, 61% a bank card and 75% receive pocket money, in average 36 euros per month. “Without financial education at school, it is the parents’ economic culture that influences the children,” emphasizes Stéphanie Lange-Gaumand. However, this varies greatly depending on the socio-professional category of the family.
In order to gradually improve things, all 4th grade students in France will take their “Educfi passport” in a few weeks, which allows them to learn how to manage a budget.
To give everyone the same chances, all 4th grade students will therefore be entitled to this “Educfi passport” in 2024, raising awareness of budgetary issues which will take place between March 18 and 23 as part of education week financial. For two hours, the main teacher of each class will lead a presentation in the form of slides and videos before the students take a quiz delivering the famous Educfi passport.
On the menu: learning what a family budget is, how to manage a bank account, how to use payment methods, what credit is, savings or even prevention in terms of financial scams which they are a prime target. Some 30% of young people say they have already received an offer to invest, lend or borrow money by telephone, Internet or a social network. “One of the big problems is also that they do not understand the risk-return relationship at all,” points out the director of financial education at the Banque de France. They think they can make a lot of money without risk. »
But the public authorities’ Educfi strategy does not stop at this passport. “Before and after the 4th year, there may also be other optional initiatives to review all these fundamentals of budgetary and financial education, each time without commercial connotation,” adds Stéphanie Lange Gaumand. Like the operation I invite a banker into my class with the French Banking Federation, the interventions of the Crésus association or the Budgetissimo game carried by Familles Rurales. »
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