The Third and Fourth Form students of St Joseph's Convent, San Fernando, beat out a stiff challenge from seven other top performing secondary schools to win the National Financial Literacy Secondary Schools Quiz 2011. In the process, the school not only walked away with a challenge trophy and many other top prizes but also with bragging rights as the team with superlative knowledge of financial literacy. In second place was Naparima Girls High School with Vessigny Secondary, third, and North Eastern College in fourth. Other schools participating in the event were ASJA Girls College, Miracle Ministries, Shiva Boys Hindu College and Parvati Girls Hindu College.
The competition was hosted by the National Financial Literacy Programme (NFLP) of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and endorsed by the Ministry of Education. Speaking about the event Adrian Saunders, assistant manager at NFLP, said: "We were indeed very impressed with the performance of the students. Many had to overcome their nervousness performing in front of an audience in order to put their best effort forward for their schools. "On top of that, it is close to end of term exams for many of them, so they would have had to put a great investment into studying for this quiz as well. We thank them for their diligence and their dedication and we thank their teachers for taking time to prepare them for the competition."
The semifinal and final competitions were held at UTT's Academy for the Performing Arts. The top eight schools qualified after receiving top marks in a written exam on March 23 at centres across Trinidad and Tobago. At stake was a top prize of $5,000 cash for the school, plus $1,000 in units for each team member and $1,200 in units for the supervising teacher. The school placing second received $3,000, $750 in units for the team members and $900 in units for the teacher. Third place received $1,000, plus $500 in units for the team members and $700 in units for the teacher. The top three teams were also awarded medals and trophies.
The NFLP launched this competition to broaden awareness among young people about the importance of financial literacy as well as to instil in them a positive attitude towards money and finances and also encourage healthy financial practices. Plans are in place to make this a regular event of the schools calendar, targeting both students of the primary and secondary schools. The NFLP last hosted a primary schools quiz in 2008 and a secondary schools challenge in 2009.