Consumer Education

Consumer Education is one of the topic that will be taught in lower secondary but do we really know what it means? What do we understand by the term consumer education? Is it important for us to know about it? This may be some of the question that arise when people mention about Consumer Education.

As a teacher, therefore, knowing what it means and whats the scope of consumer education are important so that we can pass this information to our students.

Here is some information that I gather from internet on Consumer Education:

"A process of teaching, training and learning to improve knowledge and develop skills among consumers, is called as Consumer Education. The Consumer Education relates to imparting knowledge to and developing skills in consumers regarding consumer rights, consumer laws, product quality- standards, health aspects of various products, availabilities of various public and private services, units and measurements, redressal of consumer problems and making correct choices while buying different commodities etc."

What are rights of a consumer?

A consumer has following basic rights-

• Right to SAFETY against hazardous goods and services
• Right to be INFORMED about the quality, quantity, purity and standard price
• Right to CHOOSE from a variety at competitive prices
• Right to be HEARD
• Right to seek REDRESSAL.
• Right to CONSUMER EDUCATION

The Consumer Education covers following areas-

• Health, Nutrition, food-borne diseases and food- adulteration,
• Product hazards like hazards due to storage and consumption of a particular product,
• Product labelling - pasting labels on the packaging of products regarding their composition status, weight, ecological impacts, purity standards, colour, preservatives used, date of manufacture and expiry, address of producer/ manufacturer, matters pertaining to registration, trade marks, marks of standards etc.
• Protective Laws – Laws framed by the government to protect rights of consumers and seeking redressal, how and whom to approach for redressal etc.
• Information regarding weight, measure, packaging, price quality and availability of basic needs etc.
• Environment, different types of pollutions, sustainable consumption etc.

[Source: http://www.ecosensorium.org/2010/02/what-is-consumer-education-what-is-its.html date released Sunday, February 21, 2010.]