(Yicai Global) March 18 — Chinese primary and secondary school students will soon see Candlestick chart, stock market trend chart and other contents related to securities investment in their textbooks.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, along with the Ministry of Education, is planning to add securities and futures knowledge to the school curriculum in a bid to promote rational investment awareness and improve people's ability to invest and manage their finances. The CSRC will weave securities and futures knowledge into courses and textbooks according to the characteristics of students of different ages, it said in a statement released on March 15.

The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a document back in 2013, stating that "investor education should be gradually included into the national education system, and qualified regions can start pilot projects first". More than 500 schools in China have tried to educate students about the securities market in recent years.

The Ministry of Education promotes the integration of securities and futures knowledge into the textbook curriculum and encourages eligible areas to open investment and financial management courses.

In addition to primary and secondary schools, the ministry also encourages qualified institutions of higher learning to offer securities and futures knowledge-related courses to all students.

Besides, the ministry plans to expand channels for students to understand and apply knowledge of securities and futures through virtual trading, summer camps, social practice, internship training and other activities. It has also urged college students in related majors to carry out social activities using securities and futures knowledge to serve the community during holidays.

The CSRC will allow securities and futures institutions and industry associations to conduct a series of popular science publicity lectures in schools and communities to enhance the investment-risk awareness and financial management ability of college students and the public, it stated in the document.

China has nearly 150 million individual investors in the stock market. The average age of investors is 37.6 years, while those with an investment of less than CNY500,000 (USD74,475) account for 80 percent of all, according to a research report released recently.