Telangana’s first school bank completes one-month at Chilpur ZPHS in Jangaon 

Jangaon: Despite having a good academic background, many people face issues during their visit to a bank as they lack knowledge of making transactions at the bank. To overcome this challenge, the staff of the Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Chilpur launched an innovative programme aimed at developing financial literacy among its students not […]

Jangaon: Despite having a good academic background, many people face issues during their visit to a bank as they lack knowledge of making transactions at the bank. To overcome this challenge, the staff of the Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Chilpur launched an innovative programme aimed at developing financial literacy among its students not by just teaching, but by opening a bank on the school premises. It is the only school bank to be opened in the State, according to the staff.

The school bank set up month ago has deposits of Rs 31,000. “There are lessons on financial literacy for eighth \and ninth classes. We are expected to take the students to a bank to help them understand the banking transactions. But we thought that opening a bank itself would help the students a lot to learn the things practically. Hence we set up the bank in our school on October 15”, says D Venkateshwarlu, who teaches social sciences in the school.

The school bank became an instant hit in no time, students started depositing from their pocket money. There are nearly 160 students, the staff had selected four girls to act as bank staff. While M Archana of 9th class is the manager, P Sreeja of same class is the accountant. NS Chandana of 8th class is cashier while A Sahasra Laxmi of 7th class is the clerk. The bank operated three times a day with half an hour time for each session.

In addition to maintaining a ledger with the details of the deposits, withdrawal and deposit forms were also printed in the name of the bank. A logo was also designed for this tiny bank which is helping the students to save their pocket money.

School Headmistress V Leela said the effort was to educate the students on importance of saving their pocket money and help them manage their finances in the future. “We hope this effort will check wastage of money by the students. They deposit their money and withdraw the same to buy pens, pencils, notebooks and other items needed at the school. Though such facilities were available in schools about 15 years ago, there is no such facility at any government school except our school in the State,” she said.

The bank manager M Archana says the student depositors were also issued ID cards that work as the passbook. The ID cards contain the name, class, account number and photo. “I have also saved Rs 300 and deposited it in the bank. On an average, a student does a dozen bank transactions in one month,” she said. She says the students had learnt a lot about the banking transactions. And to keep the deposited money safe, the school staff opened a savings account in the name of the school at a local post office. They deposited Rs 27,000 against the total of Rs 31,000 in the account in the post office to keep it safe. The remaining cash is used for the daily transactions.

Macharla Praveen Kumar Goud, a parent whose two daughters are studying at the school, said that setting up a bank was a wonderful initiative by the teachers of the ZPHS, Chilpur. “It will definitely make the children aware of the bank transactions and also help them inculcate the habit of saving money,” he added.