Not fewer than 15,000 students in primary and secondary schools across the country benefitted from the voluntary teaching programme organised by Sterling Bank Plc in commemoration of the 2016 Financial Literacy Week which was held last week.

The training is part of the 'One Education' initiative of Sterling Bank to further consolidate the strategic focus of the bank on education and its commitment to youth empowerment and development in line with the Financial Literacy Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Financial Literacy Week is observed annually under the Global Money Week and it is recognised nationwide as part of efforts to establish and maintain healthy financial habits among kids and teenagers which Sterling Bank also identifies with.

Although the CBN assigned Gateway Secondary School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, to the bank, Sterling Bank, however, took the initiative to include additional schools from states such as Ekiti, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Plateau, Bornu, Gombe, and Bauchi. Others schools in Kwara, Lagos, Edo, Delta, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, were equally adopted by the bank to enable the it cover more areas. Copies of the revised edition of its two books on financial literacy: 'My Little Money Book' and 'Funds,' and gift items, such as school bags and writing materials, were distributed free to students.

The group head, Strategy & Communications of the bank, Shina Atilola, who represented the managing director and chief executive of Sterling bank, Mr Yemi Adeola, in Abeokuta, explained that the bank took the decision to expand the coverage beyond the scope assigned to it by the CBN in order to reach out to more students and teach them how to imbibe the culture of financial management at a young age. This, according to him, would enable them to understand the basic elements of financial management, adding that £the Sterling volunteers' team had used the opportunity of this year's programme to impart useful knowledge, discipline and patriotism to the younger generation.£ He noted that Sterling Bank had remained consistent in providing adequate support for child education by providing materials that could be of help to them in their educational pursuits.

His words: "Sterling Bank has provided for students in different categories an Edutablet that contains school curriculum for students with unlimited access to valuable content to prepare them for their various examinations and enhance knowledge. The Bank has also provided an e-library for the College of Education, Ikere Ekiti to provide the students and other users, unlimited access to real time global educational resources that aids learning and research as part of the Bank's contributions to improving the nation's education sector under our 'One Education!' initiative.

Mr. Atilola who argued that there was no country in the world where the government alone had the resources required to fund education restated the Bank's readiness to support initiatives in the education sector aimed at preparing individuals for life. His words: "Our objective is to transform education; to invest in education and also enable investment in the sector. The Bank sees education as a means of transforming the country."

Sterling Bank is known for innovation in several areas. As it concerns Education which has become a major focus for the Bank, we believe our business is to enrich lives in innovative ways. When you invest in people, especially young people, you are enriching their lives and they will in turn enrich the society".