“Catch ’em young and turn them into finance managers”, seems to be the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) motto.

For this purpose , the country’s premier stock exchange is all set to tie up with States such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh to introduce financial literacy at the high school level. It also aims to increase the number of schools covered to 200 by the end of this calendar year for its ‘financial markets management’ courses.

“Talks are on and we have to finalise with four States within the next two-three months,” Ravi Varanasi, Chief of Business Development, NSE, told BusinessLine.

NSE has already partnered with State school boards in Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Assam to introduce its courses for high school students, to help them become financially aware at a young age and understand concepts, such as savings and investments, to plan for their future.

The objective of the courses is to create skilled manpower for the financial sector by empowering students with academic and employable skills and give them a head-start in a career in finance, according to the NSE.

In Tamil Nadu, financial literacy and financial markets courses are being taught in over 2,000 Tamil and English medium schools. In classes VIII and IX, students are studying basic financial concepts, and in classes XI and XII, they are studying about the financial markets.

The NSE has trained over 2,200 teachers and close to 7,50,000 students are studying these courses every year, said Varanasi.

Pilot project



In Assam, the exchange started a financial literacy course for class IX and X in 2014-15. It has started a pilot project in Cachar, Kamrup (Metro) and Dibrugarh districts. After the pilot, the course will be extended to 54 schools across all districts in Assam in the first phase, for which 108 teachers are being trained.

Earlier this year, the NSE entered into a partnership with the Nagaland Board of School Education to offer a financial markets management course for class XI and XII in schools affiliated with the board.

In Himachal Pradesh, the course will begin as a pilot project in 100 schools in Shimla and Solan districts for class IX and X this academic year (2014-15).

Close to 30,000 students are expected to benefit from this initiative. In Uttarakhand, too, the course will initially be offered in schools in Dehradun, Haridwar and Rudrapur districts in this academic session for classes IX and X, and will be later extended to other parts of the State.

The NSE’s financial markets management course is also available for class XI and XII in schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education since 2007, and is being run in 55 schools in cities such as Jaipur, Allahabad, Patna, Mandi, Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur.

Correction

This news report wrongly attributed a quote to Ravi Narain, Vice Chairman of NSE. It was not Narain, but Ravi Varanasi, Chief of Business Development, NSE, who said: "Talks are on and we have to finalise with four States within the next two-three months." The copy has been amended to reflect the change.