TORONTO — Students in more than two dozen Ontario high schools are taking part in a pilot project aimed at teaching them financial skills necessary to succeed in the new global economy.

The Liberal government says the project, which is underway in 28 schools, is part of its promise to improve financial literacy education.

“In the face of changing times our students need wider ranges of skills and knowledge to succeed,” Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said Thursday as she made the announcement during a visit to a Catholic school in Toronto.

“They’ll also need to learn how to be resilient and adaptable in a world where the only thing that is constant is change.”

Students in each pilot are learning one of four different subjects: financial literacy, entrepreneurship skills, digital literacy, and career and life planning. The teachers’ feedback will be incorporated into the new curriculum design, to be implemented provincewide in 2018.

Hunter announced last year that an overhaul of the mandatory Grade 10 career studies curriculum would include financial literacy.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Prakash Amarasooriya, who launched a petition late last year calling for the change. “A lot of students talk about not learning life skills in school they know they’ll need in the real world.”

Amarasooriya said he came up with the idea after his parents lost their jobs in the financial crisis and he took on five part-time jobs to help out.