He may be new to New Zealand but already Tia's helping his community grasp the basics of budgeting. Joseph Barratt meets the student out to make a difference
As sharemarkets fall and food prices rise, many people are being forced to tighten their belts.
But what if you don't even know what
a budget is? Or don't have a bank account? How would you get by and make smarter money choices?
That's the problem facing many young Pacific Islanders and their families.
Tia Araitia, a 17-year-old student at Aorere College, has noticed the issue in his community and says: ''I have a part-time job and I end up blowing all my money every time.''
However, Tia came to the attention of his economics teacher as someone who could help people in the community who lack financial literacy. Tia has a very good command of the English language despite moving to New Zealand from Rarotonga only two years ago.
He is in a new action group set up by the City of Manukau Education Trust to boost financial literacy in the community. The group is still identifying the best way to tackle the matter and hopes to have systems organised by next year.
Chief executive Bernadine Vester says the group was set up because schools were not teaching financial literacy.
''Then we saw that some young people were starting their first jobs without even having a bank account.'' As well, young Pacific Island people often have cultural obligations to help support family events and other activities.
''This can sometimes be expensive but the problem is that many of them don't even know what a budget is and they can end up going to loan sharks for money,'' says Ms Vester.
Lucy Wymer, head of business education at Aorere College, says the need is greater now than at any time in the past 12 years.
''Many schools don't address financial literacy for everyone. Even learning the terminology is important. If someone wants to take out a loan or something and they don't understand the words that they [lenders] use then that makes it very difficult.
"And many of their parents hold very little, or biased, financial information. We need to introduce it early.''
Tia Araitia agrees. ''We really need to do something. It would benefit not only my friends, but me, too.''
He may be new to New Zealand but already Tia's helping his community grasp the basics of budgeting. Joseph Barratt meets the student out to make a difference
As sharemarkets fall and food prices rise, many people are being forced to tighten their belts.
But what if you don't even know what
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.