The Financial Literacy Competition was first organised in 1966, and it has become an established part of the 9th grade Spring curriculum. This year, over 21,000 young people in total from 330 schools all over Finland participated in the competition. The qualifying round of the financial literacy competition was organised in primary schools on 8 April 2021. Due to the exceptional circumstances, this year’s qualifying round was organised according to a hybrid model: some competitors participated in the competition at school, while others did so remotely online.
The goal of the financial literacy competition is to test individual financial literacy while promoting discussion on the current state of young people’s financial literacy, encouraging the development of financial literacy skills from an early age and offering young people practical advice on how to manage their own finances. During the spring, OP cooperative banks have supported students in preparing for the competition by organising financial literacy sessions as a part of the curriculum, either remotely or on-site in schools. Last year, OP Financial Group’s work on financial literacy reached a total of 50,000 young people.
After a qualifying round, the 16 best students were selected for the Financial Literacy Competition’s final. The top three with the highest final scores were awarded with gift cards for mutual funds.
The top three from the final are:
1. Juho Parkkulainen, Pyhäselän koulu, Joensuu
2. Lauri Manner-Raappana, Ylästön koulu, Vantaa
3. Ahti Ristola, Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Helsinki
- Teaching financial literacy in schools is crucial. In addition to testing their own financial literacy skills, the Financial Literacy Competition allows young people to develop their knowledge in a wider, societal setting, says competition organiser HYOL ry’s Executive Director Kirsi Ruhanen.
In the written part of the final, the 9th-graders had to reflect on how Finnish society could recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. They were expected to discuss the issue both from the perspective of a private household and on a macroeconomic level. The finalists also participated in oral interviews conducted by the judges. Among other topics, globalisation and the future of the automobile industry were discussed in the interviews. In addition to OP Financial Group’s economist Joona Widgren and regional teachers, the panel of judges included Noora Haanpää from OP Tampere, Anu Huhanantti from OP Pohjola, Lasse Mäkynen from OP Vaasa and Tiina Sahama from OP Suur-Savo.
The coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected the finances of many young people. According to a survey* conducted by OP in January, as many as one half of young respondents said that they had monitored their spending more carefully than before. In addition, about one-third increased their savings, and approximately one-quarter began saving or investing a new way.
- Financial literacy is increasingly important, and talk about money is necessary also in these exceptional times. Supporting the Financial Literacy Competition is a very concrete way of fulfilling OP Financial Group’s core mission and societal role, says OP Financial Group’s Chief Communications and Corporate Responsibility Officer Tuuli Kousa.
* The data is based on a survey conducted via an online panel, which received responses from 2,325 adults in Finland. The survey was conducted for OP by Taloustutkimus. The margin of error of responses is about +/– 2 percentage points.