Ms Sandra Tetteh, an 11-year old girl with her mates have joined the call on government to reduce the banking age to 15 years to enable them open and operate bank accounts.
The children raised this concern during a Global Money Summit held in Accra on Friday as part of the 2017 Global Money Week celebration organized by the Young Investor Network (YIN) with the support of Union Capital Limited, an investment firm.
Ms Tetteh, who claims she saves two cedis from her pocket money of GHC 5, said an opportunity for young people to save and operate bank accounts would expand the concept of the saving culture amongst her age mates.
Ms Tetteh, who is a form one pupil of the Junior High School (JHS) and her mate Martina Obiri of Tema Senior High Schools (Temasco), said it was unfair to deprive young people from operating bank accounts where they could save more money.
“I now know the essence of saving and investment and how I will accrue interest on my savings,” she said adding that with this she can plan ahead.
Mr Joshua Mensah, President of YIN, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the summit was designed to impart to the young ones the culture of savings and investment to build a firm ground for the future generation.
In our current laws, he said, children only have the right to save at the age of 18years “but the students are advocating that the government and stakeholders should reduce the age to 15 years.”
He said the Young Investor Network was committed to cooperating with young people, organising them to share ideas and thoughts that could increase their appreciation for saving and investment.
“We have interacted with close to 5000 students in this Global Money Week celebration and we have more students coming from Temasco, Amasaman SHTS, Armed Forces SHS, and some basic schools,” Mr Mensah said.
He said there are plans to join forces with the Bank of Ghana to do more of such summits to impart knowledge to the younger generation in an effort to develop more young investors in the country.
Mr Mensah said: “We are calling on the stakeholders to come and support the cause that we are pursuing”.
In a fiercely contested quiz competition preceding the summit, the Asofan 1 JHS emerged winners with Ghana Police Depot JHS placing second position while Asofan 2 JHS placed third position.
Ms Adjei Jessica Agyeiwaa, a student of the Armed Forces SHS, said the programme has been very meaningful and changed her mindsets on the need to save and invest.
Ms Helena Ocloo Yeboah a student of the Amasaman Senior High Technical School (SHTS), said: “the programme had thought me the type of banks to invest in and the rate of returns on my investments”.
Master Daniel Sam, a student of the Amasaman SHTS, said he had learnt at the end of the programme the need for thorough research before investing in any bank so that you would not be taken by surprise as an investor.
Master Bill Ekow Bonzy, a student of the Temasco, said he gained from the summit, the various forms of loans.
“At first I thought our banks just give out loans for giving sake but I have learnt that there are secured and unsecured loans,” adding that secured loans are those with collateral and the unsecured are those without a collateral, he said.
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