Sherzod Shermatov: Teaching a child how to make money is not a bad practice

On February 3, the British Council held a conference on “Integrating creative education into higher education system of Uzbekistan”.

After the event, Kun.uz correspondent had a brief interview with the Minister of Public Education Sherzod Shermatov.

“Our society has lived in socialism for so many years. If I share a post about it on social networks, I see the following comments under it: “Minister, you are dishonest, why are you talking about money?” As if, teaching a child how to make money is a bad practice. We do not make any progress if we think that money is a bad thing. If it is bad to make money, we will just become a poor country.

Money is not a bad thing. If you are rich, you can help more people. What I want to say is that the more you hate this thing, the more you go about it. If you hate money, money will run away from you. We need to understand this,” Shermatov said.

According to the Minister of Public Education, it is necessary to use things that are interesting for children effectively.

“When a child is still young, he is creative. The school should not kill his creativity, it should give an opportunity to develop this creativity,” he said.

Shermatov noted that the five initiatives put forward by the President are of great importance.

“When a child is interested in art, painting, or music, it is all about creativity.

Another thing that brings creativity is the diversity of culture – we are a multi-cultural society. If people from different cultures are given one task, they solve it more quickly. This is a proven fact. We need to teach children more soft skills, collaboration, entrepreneurship,” the Minister said.

Sherzod Shermatov also stated that the Central Bank, jointly with the International Finance Corporation, is considering plans to teach financial literacy classes at schools, participate in the Global Money Week events.