Press release

October 22, 2019

Sun Life Foundation Taps 125,000 Public School Teachers for Financial Management Program

 

(Left to Right) Benedict Sison, Sun Life Foundation Chairman; Dr. Maria Magdalena Lim, Schools Division Superintendent (SDS) of Paranaque Schools Division Office (SDO); Alex Narciso, Sun Life Foundation President; Bro. Armin Luistro, Sun Life Foundation Independent Trustee; Karen Casas, Sun Life Foundation Trustee; Kristine Millete, Sun Life Foundation Executive Director; Madeline Diaz, Curriculum

 

Sun Life Financial-Philippines Foundation, Inc. (“Sun Life Foundation”) will endeavor to help 125,000 Filipino public school teachers level up in their financial journey through a financial management program called Sun Pera-Aralan.

Sun Pera-Aralan, which employs behavioral design and considers the actual behaviors and experiences of public school teachers, aims to help teachers develop positive and practical daily money habits without disrupting their routine and workload.

This will be done with the help of Peso-Sobre, an intuitive and straightforward budgeting system that will help teachers properly allocate their monthly salary into weekly funds. As such, they may stretch their earnings to last until the next pay day, possibly with savings to spare.

Sun Pera-Aralan also consists of an online group, which will serve as a support system for the participants and will prompt the participants to use Peso-Sobre every pay day. Meanwhile, volunteer Sun Life advisors will also be on hand to provide guidance as the participants explore a new way of handling their finances. 


Ready to go beyond financial literacy

Sun Pera-Aralan was created after a study commissioned by Sun Life Foundation and conducted by AHA! Behavioral Design Corp., showed that public school teachers are ready to go beyond basic financial literacy programs, which no longer suit their experiences, behaviors, and other factors that influence their habits.

The program was initially tested on several teachers from different public schools. It yielded positive results: the teachers were able to stretch their budget until the next pay day and were also able to save an average of Php 3,600.


|Reaching out to teachers nationwide

Sun Pera-Aralan aims to impact the lives of 125,000 public school teachers nationwide, as inspired by Sun Life’s 125th anniversary in the Philippines next year. To make this happen, Sun Life Foundation has joined forces with the Department of Education to launch the program in more than 4,000 schools in the National Capital Region, and Regions 3, 4A, 7, and 9.

“Sun Pera-Aralan was designed specifically with the Filipino public school teacher in mind,” Sun Life Foundation Chairman Benedict Sison emphasized. "For the longest time, they have been looking after the welfare and the future of our children. This time around, we will be the one looking after their welfare by helping them minimize, if not totally eliminate, their indebtedness. We are excited to see how we can empower them through this program, so they too can pursue brighter lives.”