Colombia Moves to Integrate Financial Education into the School Curriculum

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, August 11, 2026 — Colombians can now open bank accounts, use digital wallets, apply for loans and transfer money directly from their cellphones with relatively little friction. Understanding the financial consequences of those actions can be more difficult. Consumers may struggle to calculate the true cost of debt, understand how inflation affects savings, assess the impact of compound interest, or determine how much income remains after monthly expenses. The gap between access to financial services and the ability to use them responsibly is driving a new policy initiative to strengthen financial literacy before Colombians reach adulthood. Representative Santiago Castro Gómez, who represents Valle del Cauca for the Democratic Center party and previously served as president of Asobancaria, introduced House Bill 067 of 2026. The bill proposes a National Economic and Financial Education Program within Colombia’s formal education system and would apply to public and private schools in urban and rural areas. Financial education would be introduced progressively from preschool through 11th grade, with the content adjusted to students’ age and level of development.

Financial Access is Growing Across Colombia

The proposal comes as financial services become a larger part of everyday economic activity in Colombia. The Financial Inclusion Report released in 2025 found that 96.3% of adults had at least one deposit or credit product at the end of 2024, up from 94.6% in 2023. The World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2025, based on surveys conducted in 2024, provides another measure of financial access and estimates that 57.06% of Colombians ages 15 and older had an account at a financial institution or mobile money provider. The two figures are not directly comparable because the sources use different methodologies, age groups, and definitions, but both indicate that financial services have become increasingly relevant to Colombian households. Greater access, however, does not automatically produce greater financial capability. A consumer can hold a credit card without understanding its effective annual interest rate, maintain savings without considering the effect of inflation on purchasing power, or qualify for a loan without knowing how much will ultimately be repaid. Financial inclusion therefore creates a parallel need for financial knowledge that allows consumers to understand the products they use.

The proposed legislation seeks to address that need through the education system rather than waiting until people encounter complex financial decisions as adults. The bill would make economic and financial education a mandatory curricular component but would not require every school to create a separate subject. Schools could integrate the material into existing courses, establish a dedicated class, develop educational projects, or use several approaches within their Institutional Educational Project. This flexibility is intended to recognize the different circumstances of schools while limiting additional pressure on already crowded curricula. The proposal also calls for content that reflects social and territorial differences, with particular attention to rural communities, ethnic groups and students in vulnerable circumstances. The approach places financial literacy within the broader objective of helping people understand and manage financial decisions rather than simply increasing the number of people who have access to financial products.

Teaching Financial Decisions Before Adulthood

The proposed program would introduce financial concepts progressively as students move through the education system. Younger students would learn about money as a means of exchange, the difference between needs and wants, saving and the value of work. Older students would move into budgeting, responsible consumption and entrepreneurship. Secondary-school students would study financial planning, the financial system, savings and credit products, financial risk, consumer rights and basic taxation. Students in grades 10 and 11 would receive instruction in personal finance, savings and investment instruments, insurance and the digital economy. The progression is designed to connect financial concepts with decisions students are likely to face as they begin managing money independently, including earning income, using credit, saving, investing and assessing financial risks.

Castro has said the objective is to establish these capabilities before young people enter adulthood without a foundation in financial decision-making. He has described the proposal as an effort to build skills from an early age so students can learn how to save, understand credit and manage financial risk before they begin using financial products independently. In comments reported by Infobae Colombia, Castro also argued that financial difficulties cannot always be attributed to insufficient income. A person with a regular income can still make damaging financial decisions when they do not understand credit, savings, or investment. The bill’s explanatory memorandum cites figures indicating that 40.5% of Colombians do not know how to calculate compound interest and 60.3% cannot identify when inflation is reducing their purchasing power. Those figures come from earlier measurements rather than data collected in 2025, so they should be treated as historical evidence used to justify the proposal rather than as current national estimates. Their inclusion nevertheless illustrates the type of financial knowledge the proposed program is intended to address.

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Credit Shows Why Financial Literacy Matters

Credit is one of the clearest areas in which financial knowledge can affect household finances. Understanding a loan requires more than knowing how much money a lender provides. Consumers also need to understand interest, fees, repayment periods, and the total amount they will repay over the life of the loan. Credit cards present similar challenges because minimum payments can extend repayment periods and increase the total cost of borrowing. Colombia’s financial market also includes fintech companies and other non-bank lenders that can provide faster access to credit and offer alternatives to traditional banking channels. Different products can carry different costs, repayment structures and contractual conditions, making it important for consumers to understand what they are agreeing to before taking on debt. Financial literacy does not determine whether a household can afford credit, but it can improve the ability to evaluate the financial consequences of borrowing.

Economic circumstances also shape the financial decisions households make. Income levels, informal employment, living costs, regional inequality and access to formal credit can all affect a person’s ability to save, borrow or invest. A household with a predictable monthly salary faces different financial constraints from one whose income changes from week to week. Financial education therefore cannot eliminate the structural causes of financial hardship or guarantee better financial outcomes. Its role is to give consumers a stronger basis for evaluating the options available to them. A person may understand the risks of debt and still need to borrow for an essential expense, while a household may understand inflation but keep money in an easily accessible savings account because liquidity is more important for its circumstances. The objective is not to direct every consumer toward a particular financial product but to help people understand the costs, risks, and consequences of their choices.

International Research Adds to the Case

The rationale for strengthening financial education in Colombia also reflects findings from international research. The OECD’s PISA financial literacy assessment measures whether 15-year-old students can apply financial knowledge to real-world situations involving money and transactions, planning and managing finances, risk and reward, and the broader financial landscape. OECD research has identified differences in financial literacy associated with students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and has emphasized the importance of reaching students who have weaker financial capabilities. The organization’s analysis of international PISA results also indicates that students with stronger financial literacy are more likely to save and compare prices before making purchases than students with weaker performance. The findings reinforce the distinction between knowing financial concepts and applying them to everyday decisions.

That distinction is relevant to Colombia’s proposed program because financial education has limited value if students learn definitions without learning how to use them. Understanding compound interest matters when comparing loans, understanding inflation matters when assessing the purchasing power of savings, and understanding risk matters when evaluating investment products. Budgeting becomes more useful when students can apply it to actual income and expenses, while knowledge of consumer rights becomes more valuable when students understand how to identify potentially unsuitable or misleading financial offers. The proposed progression from basic money concepts to credit, investment, insurance, taxation and the digital economy reflects that practical approach. International research does not establish that financial education alone determines financial well-being, but it provides evidence that stronger financial capabilities can influence financial behaviors.

Financial Education Has Limits

Financial education cannot solve every financial problem facing Colombian households. Knowledge does not automatically produce higher incomes, affordable credit, or greater savings, and consumers can make sound decisions while still facing economic constraints. Someone with irregular income may understand how to budget but struggle to maintain a consistent spending plan. A household with limited disposable income may understand the importance of saving but have little money left after meeting essential expenses. Regional differences and unequal access to financial services can create additional barriers, particularly for rural communities and vulnerable populations. These factors mean that financial education should be viewed as one element of a broader financial inclusion framework rather than as a substitute for policies addressing income, employment, affordability and access.

The design of Colombia’s proposed program recognizes some of these challenges by allowing schools to determine how financial education fits within their existing curricula. The emphasis on rural communities, ethnic groups and students in vulnerable circumstances also acknowledges that financial decisions are influenced by local economic conditions and access to financial products. The effectiveness of the program will depend in part on whether students can connect classroom concepts to real financial decisions. Learning why a purchase made on credit costs more, recognizing when debt is becoming difficult to manage, determining how much income can realistically be saved, or identifying a risky financial offer can have more practical value than memorizing financial terminology. Financial literacy becomes meaningful when knowledge translates into the ability to evaluate choices and understand their consequences.

From Financial Inclusion to Financial Capability

Colombia’s progress in financial inclusion has made financial capability an increasingly important part of the national conversation. The rise in the number of adults holding deposit and credit products indicates that formal financial services are reaching a large share of the population. At the same time, earlier financial-capability research has identified weaknesses in areas such as spending awareness and emergency preparedness. A World Bank national financial capability survey previously found that only 23% of respondents knew exactly how much they had spent during the previous week, while only about one in five reported being able to cover a major unexpected expense. Those findings cannot be treated as a current measurement of Colombian households, but they illustrate why financial capability involves more than account ownership. It also involves tracking spending, planning ahead, maintaining financial resilience, and understanding the consequences of financial commitments.

House Bill 067 of 2026 would place that challenge within Colombia’s formal education system by establishing a national framework for economic and financial education from preschool through 11th grade. The proposal comes at a time when consumers have greater access to bank accounts, credit, digital wallets and other financial services, making the ability to evaluate those products increasingly important. The broader issue is whether greater financial access can be matched by greater financial capability. A financial system becomes more useful when consumers can compare costs, understand risks, recognize unsuitable products and make decisions based on their own financial circumstances. For Colombia, the proposed program represents an attempt to establish those capabilities earlier, before financial decisions involving debt, savings, investment, insurance and taxation become part of adult life.