This year, the Macedonian Stock Exchange joins the global initiative "Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy" of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) in support of the global campaign "World Investor Week" (World Investor Week - WIW) organized by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
This year, the "World Investor Week" runs from 4 October to 10 October 2021 and was joined by a record of 78 exchanges that this week have Ring the Bell ceremonies, workshops and events, in order to raise awareness of the importance and necessity of financial literacy and inclusion and their impact on people's lives.
As a part of today´s ceremony, Mila Carovska, Minister of Education and Science, Nora Aliti, President of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ivan Steriev, Chief Executive Officer of the Macedonian Stock Exchange rang the stock exchange bell.
Within this event it was announced that the Ministry of Education and Science, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Macedonian Stock Exchange are working together to create a school subject on the principles of functioning of the capital market that would be taught in the future in high schools of economics and law, starting from the academic year 2022/23. The course will have a theoretical and practical part, and in its practical part will be used the redesigned educational platform "Virtual Stock Exchange" (https://youtu.be/n-c4BUYIbaU), an ie online platform developed by the Macedonian Stock Exchange as a game of knowledge through which participants gain experience in securities trading.
The Minister of Education and Science, Mila Carovska emphasized that the development of the education system and the provision of better education for young people is not only the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Science but also of all social actors - individuals and institutions that are affected and can help in this part. "That is why I am grateful that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange show initiative and get involved in the efforts for better educational opportunities for the youth in the country." - said Carovska.
On this occasion, Nora Aliti, President of the Securities and Exchange Commission said: “Much has been invested in the securities market since its inception, but the introduction of an elective subject to be taught in formal education is a truly lasting investment that is capitalized in the production of the rarest and most important resource and that is human capital.
Therefore, the SEC as a regulator, which in addition to supervising the overall functioning of the securities market with all its stakeholders, gives equal importance to the educational function, which is based on financial literacy. Only a well-educated investor can be a long-term investor, and through a higher level of financial literacy we ensure greater financial stability! "
"People's economic and financial habits directly determine their standard of living and quality of life. Hence, there is a global consensus that all social stakeholders must step up their efforts and allocate more resources to increase financial education and literacy. From the point of view of the stock exchanges, financial literacy is becoming more important every day, given the pronounced trend of increased participation of individuals in securities trading and all the implications that arise from it. "We are really happy that this is now institutionally recognized in our country and that we will soon be one of the few countries in the region that will give our high schools of economics and law students a chance to get into this complex issue in time." said Ivan Steriev, Chief Executive Officer of the Macedonian Stock Exchange.
"On behalf of the participants in the pilot project School Stock Exchange, students at the SEPUGS Arseni Jovkov, I would like to thank the Macedonian Stock Exchange for enabling us to realize the project. Participating in this project was a wonderful and unforgettable experience. It complements our knowledge of securities, but we also learned something new about the capital market, we virtually trade in securities in real-time and at real prices. This was a really interesting, instructive experience for me that I want to repeat, so I continued with virtual trading through the Virtual Stock Exchange platform. I invite all our peers to visit this platform and to try to expand their knowledge in this area, "said student Tijana Mirovska, who was part of the group of students from SEPUGS" Arseni Jovkov "who voluntarily participated in the pilot project for the redesign of the Virtual Stock Exchange platform.