The Role of School Banking in Promoting Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Bangladesh

Financial inclusion has been considered a priority policy by policymakers across the world. Governments and policymakers have adopted several policies and strategies to foster financial inclusion. A school banking program is one of those strategies. School banking aims to acquaint students with current banking services and technologies and create savings behavior among children under 18. The result is that school-going students come under a formal financial system that will allow them to participate in the country’s economic activities. Though school banking has gained much attention, it is yet to be empirically investigated as the enabler of promoting financial inclusion. This study fills this gap by examining data from 2011 through 2019. Findings indicate that school banking activities promote access, usage, and depth dimension of financial inclusion. Results suggest that policymakers should make appropriate school banking decisions, leading to full financial inclusion.