Masaka pupils start savings group

Masaka. Every Monday and Friday, a group of pupils from Green Valley Primary School, Kasanje, a public school in Mukungwe Sub-county, Masaka District, save money to buy essential school items.
The decision to save money under their group name; The school bank, is a rare practice, especially among school-going children.
The idea was developed after Mr Robert Mwanjuzi, a teacher and coordinator of the group, watched a school banking competition on NTV in 2016.
“I watched the (school banking) competition and I realised that the idea of saving would also be good for my pupils. I decided to first engage the head teacher who gave me a go ahead to sell it to the learners and some of them bought it,” Mr Mwanjuzi says.

Group starts
At its inception in 2016, the aim of the savings group, which kicked off with 20 members each saving Shs5,000 on the first day, was to inculcate a saving culture among the pupils.
“I mainly looked at making them (pupils) appreciate the culture of saving, which is largely lacking among many Ugandans,” Mr Mwanjuzi says.
Compared to other countries in the region, Uganda has the lowest savings to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio at 13.48 per cent of GDP, with majority of the population being un-banked.
Information from Uganda Bureau of Statistics shows that only 12 per cent of the population have bank accounts while research shows that Ugandans save less than five per cent of their monthly earnings as compared to other East African countries such as Kenya (23 per cent), Tanzania (13 per cent) and Rwanda (18 per cent).
With such a poor saving habit, Mr Mwanjuzi says he wanted his pupils to understand from a tender age that saving is not about how much money one earns, but it is about the attitude and will.
He says it was agreed among the pupils that the money saved upon accumulation, should help them buy different basic needs at school.
While some pupils suggested to use their savings to buy school uniforms and scholastic materials such as books and pens, others, especially those in Primary Seven proposed to use the money to prepare for their leavers party.
However, majority suggested buying shoes and stop attending classes barefooted.
“I already had a uniform and I wanted to have shoes because my parents did not look at it as something essential, arguing that pupils who have shoes are from well-off families,” Ms Fatuna Nasuuna, a Primary Five pupil whose savings have reached Shs10,000, said during an interview last week.
Ms Nasuuna, whom the group members chose to be the secretary, says she ensures that she saves at least Shs200 daily.
Angella Nankya, the group’s manager, says since 50 pupils have adopted a saving culture, the group has managed to accumulate savings close to Shs700,000 and now lends out small loans to their teachers who pay back with 10 per cent interest.
When Mr Ernest Kasaga, a teacher at the school got an emergency, he ran to the pupils savings group, which rescued him with a loan of Shs50,000. Mr James Mweru, another teacher, shares a similar testimony.
“I have borrowed twice from them taking Shs30,000 and Shs45,000 respectively, to solve my urgent financial needs,” he says.
The young savers get money from collecting firewood, fetching water, digging, while the rest, especially girls, deduct a small portion of what their parents give them for breakfast and save with the group.
Nankya, one of the group members, says when her parents give Shs 500 to buy something at break time, she only spends Shs300 and saves the change.
“At the end of the week, I am able to save Shs1,000,” she says.
“For purposes of transparency, the group is coordinated by our teacher who advises us on everything that we need to do. We also have a manager and a secretary who we selected among ourselves,” she adds.
One of their future plans, according the manager, is to invest their savings in the school canteen, so that they grow their savings and continue helping their teachers with small loans as well as buying scholastic materials.
Mr Mwanjuzi says since the savings group started, the pupils have learnt to work hard, manage their small resources effectively, appreciate how money works and how it can be channelled to productive ventures.
“Our pupils, especially those who joined the group have indeed learnt financial discipline, they no longer spend money on frivolities as many other pupils do,” Mr Mwanjuzi says.
However, the teacher says some pupils drop out of school and withdraw their money which affects the group’s growth.
“When there is domestic violence, parents usually separate and mothers sometimes move with their children and this has affected some of the pupils’ saving group,” Mr Mwanjuzi says.

Challenge
Nankya says recently the group gave out more than Shs300,000 to Primary Seven leavers and other pupils who left school.
“We are trying to close that gap by mobilising other pupils to join our bank but this hurts because instead of getting more members, we just replace the ones who left,” she says.
According to a recent survey conducted by the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute, parents’ interference in children’s money affects their saving culture.
The survey carried out in western Uganda in 2016, stated that the children complain of interference from their parents which limits their decision on how their money is used.
The report highlighted the need for a means of tracking and controlling their own funds in order to save and attain their goals.