Another year of JAYE and Skolasajf programmes have now come to a close.
Although this year differed from the previous ones, JAYE delivered the ‘Our Community’ and ‘Europe My Business’ programmes to 41 centres around Malta and Gozo which impacted 890 between the ages of 7 and 13 overall.
Educating younger generations about the importance of financial literacy, the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and preparation for the workplace, is crucial to cultivate creativity, problem solving skills, leadership skills and confidence within young children. In this way, this programme goes beyond normal schooling and teaches students important qualities that are needed when they are older.
The two programmes allow students to explore new concepts and improve their skills through numerous activities. In the ‘Our Community’ programme,
“students are then taken through an entrepreneurial journey to design a business idea for an empty shop in the community” (Skolasajf Newsletter,2021) https://fes.gov.mt/en/Documents/Newsletters/2021%20Skolasajf%20Special%20Edition.pdf.
The ‘Europe My Business’ programme gives students the opportunity to create a prototype of their original business idea. A playworker from the Fgura centre observed that students,
“… liked having the opportunity to work with materials and have a hands-on experience”
This programme was also a valuable learning experience for JAYE’s own facilitators. Kimberly, an Our Community programme facilitator, states,
“As a facilitator, I have learnt a lot through this programme and it allowed me to grow as a person and learn more about entrepreneurship”.
Cara, a Europe My Business programme facilitator, says,
“By delivering lessons for the EMB programme, I not only holistically focused on teaching entrepreneurship interactively, but I also grew to be more patient, understanding and resourceful.”
The center playworkers noted the positive impact these programmes had on their students. A playworker from the Saint Paul’s Bay center observed that,
“… the students were also able to acquire new thinking skills and managerial skills.”
In addition, a San Gwann playworker pointed out that,
“…the sessions are very adapted to the level of the children and the posters and method of presentation make it quite engaging.”
Throughout the programmes, students with the most innovative, creative and viable business ideas were chosen to compete against each other in JAYE’s final competition. These groups have been carefully chosen by JAYE facilitators that recognised the potential of their business ideas. The event will take place on the 2nd of September through a livestream which will be broadcast on all of JAYE’s social media platforms. Judges from HSBC, ZAAR and the Malta Enterprise will be allocated to the two programmes to decide on the best idea. The winning teams will receive various prizes including select books, sponsored by Agenda Bookshop.
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