Financial education in latin america: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

 This article analyzes the state of financial education in Latin America, exploring both the educational policies implemented in various countries and the performance of students in the international standardized PISA test conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The general objective of the research is to identify the challenges and opportunities in financial education in the region, evaluating the effectiveness of existing policies and their relationship with student performance. The methodology applied is descriptive and comparative, based on a review of national policies, educational performance data and previous academic studies. Partial results indicate that, although some countries have made significant progress in the inclusion of financial education in their educational systems, there are great inequalities in terms of access and educational quality, which is reflected in the low results in international evaluations. This highlights the need to design more robust public policies, with a collaborative approach, whose governmental efforts are aimed at strengthening the financial competencies of young people, which should be supported by other social actors such as higher education institutions, schools, the private sector and non-governmental organizations, in addition to contributing to equity and social inclusion.