Financial literacy in CBC: what your child learns at school
In Kenya’s competency-based curriculum, financial literacy is spread across subjects rather than taught as one subject. Business Studies covers money, budgeting, banking and goal-setting, and KICD’s Financial Literacy Learners’ Toolkit for junior and senior school, published in January 2024, covers income, goals, budgeting, saving, investment, entrepreneurship and digital money safety. School teaches the concepts; home is where children practise them.
- Money topics are integrated across subjects, not a single "financial literacy" class.
- Grade 10 Business Studies includes money, budgeting, banking (including junior savings accounts) and SMART goals.
- KICD’s toolkit (January 2024) covers seven areas, from income to cyber security, for ages about 12 to 18.
- Mobile money gets little direct coverage in the Grade 10 Business Studies design.
- Practice at home with real (small) money fills the gap.
How CBC handles money
Kenya’s competency-based curriculum (CBC) doesn’t have a stand-alone "money" subject. Instead, money skills appear across learning areas, especially Business Studies in junior and senior school. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) describes financial literacy as integrated across subjects.
What Business Studies covers
KICD’s Grade 10 Business Studies curriculum design, from June 2024, has a strand called Business and Money Management. It includes:
- Money: what money does, why people keep it, and ethical and unethical uses of money.
- Business goals: setting SMART short- and long-term goals.
- Budgeting: why budgets matter and how to prepare one to control spending.
- Banking: the role of banks, types of accounts (including junior savings accounts), and banking trends in Kenya.
Later strands touch on paying for goods and services, consumer rights, and taxes. Mobile money isn’t covered as a specific topic in that design, which is notable in a country that runs on M-PESA.
KICD’s Financial Literacy Learners’ Toolkit
In January 2024, KICD published a Financial Literacy Learners’ Toolkit for junior and senior school, with support from Old Mutual and Safaricom. It’s aimed at learners aged about 12 to 18 and covers seven areas:
- Personal income, including taxes and ethical income
- Financial goals, needs and wants
- Budgeting
- Savings
- Investment
- Entrepreneurship and record keeping
- ICT in personal finance: online transactions, digital tax and cyber security
What school can’t do
School teaches the ideas. It can’t give your child a weekly budget to run, a goal to save for, or the feeling of spending all their money on Tuesday and waiting until payday. That practice happens at home, with real (small) amounts.
What to add at home, by stage
- Lower primary (Grades 1 to 3): coins and notes, needs and wants, saving for something small.
- Upper primary (Grades 4 to 6): earning from extra jobs, saving for a goal, giving.
- Junior school (Grades 7 to 9): running a weekly budget, comparing prices, scams.
- Senior school (Grades 10 to 12): interest and borrowing, M-PESA GO and Ziidi, bank accounts, betting.
How myKesho fits alongside school
myKesho’s 90-plus lessons run in 6 levels from age 6: Money basics, Saving smart, Earning and sharing, Staying safe with money, Planning ahead and Big money ideas. They’re set in Kenya, with M-PESA, the tuck shop and a chama, and every lesson ends with a question to ask at home. The wallet and jars give children the practice school can’t.
Questions parents ask
Is financial literacy taught in CBC?
Yes, but it’s integrated across subjects rather than taught as one. Business Studies covers money, budgeting, banking and goal-setting, and KICD published a Financial Literacy Learners’ Toolkit in January 2024.
What does KICD’s financial literacy toolkit cover?
Seven areas: personal income, financial goals, budgeting, savings, investment, entrepreneurship, and ICT in personal finance including cyber security.
Does CBC teach about M-PESA?
Mobile money isn’t a specific topic in KICD’s Grade 10 Business Studies design. Payments and digital transactions come up more generally.
Lessons for your child
- Planning a month: A simple budget: money in, saving and spending
- How banks really work: Banks keep your money and lend it out
- How savings grow: Interest, SACCOs and money that earns money
- VAT and PAYE in plain words: The tax on a receipt and the tax on a salary
More guides
- How to teach your child about money in Kenya
- Junior bank accounts in Kenya compared
- M-PESA GO and Ziidi for teens: what parents should know
Sources
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