Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) starts RB Harapan Initiative, aims for 50 school visits this year
5 March 2021, 9:36 AM
Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) has commenced the RB Harapan initiative to support the development and learning of the schoolchildren of Brunei, with enriching educational experiences at RB Campus and Hangar.
With this initiative, RB is targeting to welcome 50 schools over the year with a platform to supplement and broaden the education for students in Brunei through technical visits and sharing sessions at RB facilities. The students will be able to learn from and ask questions to engineers, cabin crew, pilots and administrative and managerial staff on the functions and duties that they perform.
It is hoped that information gained by the students – as the next generation of the country’s talent and drivers of economic growth – will nurture their interest in the various career opportunities available, and therefore, further ignite their passion in learning when in pursuit of future career aspirations.
Through the school visits, RB female staff will deliver talks as an empowering figure in their line of work and to attract female students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects for their higher education. This is in line with the steps RB is taking to achieve more gender diversity in the workplace following the airlines’ commitment to the International Air Transport Association, (IATA) 25by2025, a voluntary campaign for IATA member airlines to strengthen female representation in the aviation industry by 25%, or up to a minimum of 25% by 2025.
RB also wishes for this initiative to contribute in achieving Wawasan Brunei 2035 (Brunei Vision 2035), particularly in realising the first goal of an educated, highly-skilled and accomplished people.
RB Chief Executive Officer Captain Haji Khalidkhan bin Haji Asmakhan said, “This initiative provides us with the unique opportunity to engage the young minds of Brunei and InsyaAllah, inspire them to one day realise their dreams of working in their desired careers”.
He added, “Hopefully, that will drive them to work hard in their studies, become passionate about what they are learning and ignite a healthy desire to contribute to our country’s future”.
During these visits, students from tertiary, vocational, secondary and primary schools will have the opportunity to visit RB’s modern administrative and technical facilities including its B787 Dreamliner and A320 mock-up airplane, grooming room for cabin crew, training areas, engineering workshops, Collaboration Hub and Heritage Gallery.
The sharing sessions, conducted by the RB Team from a variety of job functions, will help the students understand the industry, expectations of the job market, skills and competencies required and how this relates to their future career selection. The objective is to allow the students to reach out directly to a working professional with any questions they may have.
Since introducing RB Harapan at the start of this year, the national carrier has received more than 250 students and 27 teachers from 6 educational institutions in January and February.
To commemorate each visit, the students were invited to take part in RB’s wall mural art project, which started in December last year. The wall mural is housed at RB Campus and aims to be a fixture that the students can take pride in contributing to their national airline.
RB Harapan and the wall mural are part of RB’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to engage with the public at large, encourage learning and creativity as well as nurture an interest in the industry through career talks and other enriching activities.
RB will seek to approach more schools in all four districts to take part in the initiative throughout this year. Schools interested in joining RB Harapan or wish to find out more information can also reach RB directly.