OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2010. Danske Bankas launched a series of educational events entitled ‘Get to know the bank’ for pupils of the first to fifth forms in early May this year. The key idea of this project is to promote the knowledge of youth in the field of finance: to invite pupils to learn about the operation of the bank and about the world of finance and to encourage them to make their first steps towards financial independence, reported the press-centre of Danske Bankas.

The events, to date held only in Vilnius, have been attended by over 500 children from more than 20 schools. This month, the ‘Get to know the bank’ initiative will expand to Kaunas, Klaipeda, Panevezys, Alytus, and Siauliai.

The approximately two-hour events feature an interactive and exciting presentation about the history of the appearance of banks and about the functions and the nature of the operation of banks. The children are invited to take part in a brief excursion. Older children play an exciting ‘Game of minds’ on the topic of finance, while younger pupils take part in the ‘Currency: Lithuania and the world’ quiz. 

Gerimanta Stankute, coordinator of social activity at Danske Bankas, firmly believes in the usefulness of this project. ‘We have clearly seen a lack of financial knowledge adequate for their age in children when we met with first form pupils. The involvement of the children, the diversity of their questions, and the number of questions demonstrated that the issue of money, which is an everyday issue and an important one, is only rarely discussed with children’, Ms Stankute said.  

The ‘Get to know the bank’ initiative originated from annual events held for the children of employees of the bank. The curiosity of the children; their questions, which sometimes went beyond their age; and the positive emotions after half a day spent at the bank all showed that children take a great interest in the topic of finance but lack knowledge in this area. ‘When we launched this project at the end of May, we planned to hold the events on Fridays only. But just a couple of weeks later it became clear that one event per week would not be enough. And after approximately 350 children visited Danske Bankas in less than two months, we knew that the project would be renewed in autumn’, Ms Stankute said.    

Following the summer holidays, the ‘Get to know the bank’ events are being held three to four times per week, and the waiting list of forms wanting to visit over the next month is already full. The employees of Danske Bankas in Kaunas, Klaipeda, Panevezys, Alytus, and Siauliai also successfully joined the educational project at the beginning of this school year. It should be noted, though, that the ‘Get to know the bank’ events in Panevezys, Alytus, and Siauliai will be held at schools rather than in bank premises, which are not sufficiently spacious to invite entire groups of pupils.