A new educational curriculum on financial literacy is to be launched in UAE universities, in a drive to empower Emirati youth and help them face the challenges ahead.

The new curriculum, designed and presented by the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development in partnership with global financial dignity leader Operation Hope, is part of the foundation's financial management programme "Isrif Sah" (the Arabic translation for "Spend Wisely").

Isrif Sah, a 4.5-hour course, aims to educate Emirati youth on effective financial management, by teaching them good spending and saving habits and helping them avoid the risks of cumulative debts, which is the case with a growing number of young Emiratis according to recent statistics.

Dr Sabha Al Shamsi, the foundation's director of Social Inclusion, said: “The new curriculum will be run as part of the Isrif Sah's Youth to Youth Mentorship Initiative bringing together senior students, teachers and role models to deliver the curriculum to university students.”

"Our ambition is to get Isrif Sah to an advanced level whereby students in their final year will be able to teach freshmen. As such it will be a student-based program serving the interest of the students themselves," said Al Shamsi.

“The project team visited universities and educational institutions acquainting themselves with students' needs and measuring their reaction to the proposed curriculum. They also attended international conferences on financial literacy, familiarising themselves with the best practices and standards in this field,” she said.

Isrif Sah includes the Youth Mentoring Project, designed to train 100 Emirati young people to pass on financial management advice to peers; the Mobile Bus Project, which takes financial literacy activities and events to centres across the country; and the Educational Curriculum Initiative, which aims to incorporate financial education into formal national school lesson plans. – TradeArabia News Service