The FINEXIT route, a traveling ‘escape room’ to promote financial education is in Lanzarote this week, visiting several vocational training centers on the island.
Around 8,000 young people from 150 Vocational Training centers will participate throughout Spain in 110 Spanish towns during the 2025-26 academic year. The initiative has been promoted by the Chamber of Spain and Fundación MAPFRE, with co-financing from the European Union and the collaboration of the Chamber of Lanzarote and La Graciosa
Through this gamified activity, students learn to interpret a company balance sheet or insurance contracts and policies; they will perform currency exchange and internalize concepts such as the IBAN code or Return on Investment (ROI). Additionally, they work on other knowledge that is not strictly financial, such as creating a SWOT analysis or a company organizational chart.
The initiative, which aims to provide students with the necessary tools and knowledge in financial education, is stopping this week at various locations in Lanzarote. This Tuesday, January 27, it will make a stop at the IES Las Maretas in Arrecife, on the 28th it will move to IES Tías, and on the 29th to CIFP Zonzamas.
It was attended by Yonathan de León, mayor of Arrecife; Ascensión Toledo, Minister of Education and Employment of the Cabildo of Lanzarote; Carolina León Martínez, Director General of Vocational Training and Special Regime Education of the Government of the Canary Islands; Carmen Martinón, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote and La Graciosa; and Joel Ramos Ojeda, representative of Fundación MAPFRE in Lanzarote. The institute's management also attended.
A mission to find the first resident on Mars
Erika Midas, founder of Midas Corp and the first resident of Midas Base (Mars), has disappeared after an anomalous signal was detected from Phobos, the closest moon to the Red Planet. Now, students must embark on the Ares-VII mission to find her, investigate the signal, and secure the base.
Participants, in a race against time, will overcome challenges that combine ingenuity, teamwork, and the application of financial education concepts to unlock clues and solve the mystery.
This traveling escape room merges science fiction narrative with hands-on learning, allowing players to assimilate essential knowledge dynamically. By using financial education as the primary tool to progress through the plot, the system ensures that students test and master these concepts in a high-stakes, yet highly entertaining, environment.
According to data from the latest PISA report, the financial literacy of Spanish 15-year-olds remains below the OECD average. 17% of Spanish students do not reach the basic level of financial literacy, and there is a much lower percentage of excellent students in this subject (only 4.7% compared to 10.6% in the average of Western countries). Hence the importance of this campaign.
The initiative represents a continuation of the work started in the previous two school years, with broad student participation. Last year, the initiative visited 119 vocational training centers in 15 autonomous communities, with over 6,300 students participating. This year, it will reach even more schools (150) and special attention will be paid to reaching towns beyond provincial capitals, in less populated areas with more limited access to such initiatives.
