High School Students Outperform MBA Peers in Varied Knowledge Levels: RBI Awareness Survey
People are used to using Paytm, and the RBI recently revoked its Payments bank license, a day before the government presented the interim budget in parliament. Students in various institutions are interested in the roles RBI plays in regulating and supervising financial institutions and ensuring India's monetary stability.
In a recent survey by students from Step by Step School, a postgraduate student from JNU, and a Business School student from the Indian School of Business, over 100 participants from Noida, JNU's Economics department, and top Business schools answered questions about the Reserve Bank of India [1]. Students from each category were asked about the RBI, its roles, and how it handles inflation. Surprisingly, there was a knowledge disparity among high school, MBA, and Economics students.
Postgraduate economics students excelled, but high school students outperformed even MBA majors. Two-thirds of high school students correctly answered the first RBI question, and over three-quarters grasped its significance. More than half of high school students correctly identified inflation, indicating understanding despite it not being explicitly taught.
Postgraduate Economics students:
The final question about the RBI's role in regulating inflation was the most difficult because it exceeded what students were expected to know. We were wrong; only about a third of the students realized it. As per the study, we found that the postgraduates had a better grasp of the functions of the RBI compared to MBA students.
MBA students:
High School students:
The responses from the MBA students were on expected lines, whereas high school students' responses exceeded our expectations.
In our understanding, the responses of high school students can be attributed to the proliferation of mobile devices and online social media networks. Many high school students have heard of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as well. Another reason for the better responses from high school students seems to be the efforts of their respective schools and their parents to impart financial literacy at such an early age. To summarise, in our study, we found that high school students appear to have access to resources and environments to improve their financial know-how about one of the fundamental institutions for the stability of India’s financial system. But, there is scope for improvement and we have provided some suggestions in this regard.
How can we ensure that young people in this country understand the roles and functions of the RBI better?
First, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uses traditional media channels such as television and school outreach programmes to raise public awareness about its organisation and functions, it could do a better job by being more proactive on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. This is because the majority of the young people in the country spend significant time on these sites.
Second, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should disseminate information by using animations or short videos that can be displayed on commercial bank websites or any government offices, such as the driver's license or passport offices which makes it visually appealing.
Third, there should be efforts to include specific chapters on the significance of the RBI in India's economy in the school curriculum broadly. Currently, it is taught in 11th-grade Economics courses but as an elective, so only few students end up taking it. Instead, it should be one of the required subjects before the 10th grade so that everyone can learn about it.
Fourth, in addition to launching a YouTube channel, the RBI can create a website with a user-friendly interface that answers all of the frequently asked questions about finance and economics that people typically search for on Google. This is because many prefer audio-visual content, a YouTube Channel can fulfil the above purpose. As a result, citizens' trust in RBI and its role in our country’s financial stability will rise, and people can get answers to their questions from a trustworthy source.
Lastly, the RBI can follow in the footsteps of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund by offering short online courses on a variety of topics. Students typically look for new online classes on platforms like edX and Coursera, so offering short-term courses would be ideal.
