Cha Ching mobile classroom launched

MANILA, Philippines – British life insurer Pru Life UK, through its unified charitable arm Prudence Foundation, has partnered with the Arnel Pineda Foundation Inc. (APFI) to launch the first Cha-Ching Mobile Classroom.

Cha-Ching is the first multi-country, multi-platform program that aims to help parents in Asia teach children basic money management skills to children aged seven to 12. It was launched in Hong Kong in 2011 by Prudential Corporation Asia, the regional headquarters of Pru Life UK.

The classroom is a light-duty truck emblazoned with Cha-Ching artwork and equipped with a library and teaching equipment such as a whiteboard and chairs that can be set up alongside the vehicle to facilitate learning sessions anywhere the truck is deployed. This effort is in line with both Prudence Foundation’s and APFI’s thrust to promote literacy and numeracy at an early age, especially in underserved and off-grid communities.

Prudence Foundation executive director Marc Fancy shared, “We are always looking for opportunities to expand our outreach to children to empower them with literacy and numeracy skills so they can have brighter futures. We are thankful that our partnership with Arnel Pineda in producing a remake of the Cha-Ching Charity song resulted in much benefit for Typhoon Yolanda survivors. This success has enabled the launch of this new initiative to bring learning closer to children whose access to education is limited.”

Journey frontman Arnel Pineda collaborated with Cha-Ching in 2014 to release a special recording of the Charity song, highlighting the choice to donate and share what we have either in the form of money, time or basic goods, to those who strive with less in life. Proceeds from downloads of the song and the Cha-Ching album from iTunes are directed to the Prudence Foundation’s relief and recovery efforts post-Yolanda (Haiyan).

The mobile classroom initially targets to reach out-of-school youth within Quezon City and nearby areas.

The Philippines became the first country to integrate Cha-Ching in the grade school curriculum following the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education in April 2012 for the integration of the Cha-Ching in the Grade 2 curriculum.