Sepang,
3rd August 2015 – A memorandum of understanding between Asian Aviation
Centre of Excellence Sdn Bhd (AACE) and the Astronautical Association of
Malaysia (AstroX) was held at the AACE’s state of the art training
centre today to mark a collaboration which will see both AACE provide
regular simulator centre visits to participants from AstroX.
Mr
Wan Mohd Ariffin Bin Wan Hussin, Assistant Director of Co-Curricular
& Arts Division of the Ministry of Education was present to witness
the signing ceremony, along with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of
AirAsia, Capt. Dato’ Fareh Mazputra Tun Ahmad Fairuz, CEO of AACE and
Capt. Mohammed Faiz Kamaludin, President of AstroX.
The
agreement will see both parties working closely in providing regular
simulator centre visits for members of the Astronautics Club Malaysia as
part of AACE’s CSR efforts in giving back to the community.
These visits are designed to expose school children aged between 10 to
12 to the wonderful world of aviation and science. The main objective of
the programme is to ingrain the right philosophy of science to youth as
part of the extra co-curricular activities conducted by the club.
The Astronautics Club Malaysia that was launched in January 2015 have
seen participation from 27 schools within the Klang Valley and
membership of more than 1,000 students this year. The club will be
opened to all primary schools nationwide next year and targeting to
recruit 100,000 members by year 2018.
For this event, 80 students
from Sekolah Kebangsaan La Salle and Sekolah Kebangsaan Jenis Cina Puay
Chai were selected for the inaugural visit. Other participating schools
will get the opportunity to visit the centre as there will be ample
number of visits a year that have been planned in the pipeline.
The children will get to learn using the Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) approach in differrent areas such as
flight simulation, engineering and cabin operations. AACE is the leading
one-stop training centre in providing specialised aviation related
training services within the ASEAN region.
Tony Fernandes,
AirAsia Group CEO commented, “AACE has trained all of AirAsia’s
workforce, and we are sure that through this CSR program with AstroX, we
will be able to inspire and inculcate a sense of interest for science,
and in particular aviation amongst the students who will be visiting
AACE.”
CEO of AACE, Dato' Captain Fareh Mazputra said, “We wish
to play a role in educating the younger generation, apart from just
being a training centre for the aviation industry. Hopefully, this
collaboration will be a catalyst in helping these students to develop an
interest and consider aviation as a field to venture into for their
future. We look forward to welcoming all the school children in the
future and hope that they will have fun while they are here.”
Captain Mohammed Faiz Kamaludin, the president of AstroX believes that
activities conducted by Astronautics Club Malaysia will be able to
promote the knowledge of science to schoolchildren across Malaysia. The
nation is facing a sharp decline in the number of students being
interested in science evident from the poor average scores garnered from
Malaysian students sitting for the PISA and TIMSS assessments.
“We believe with the formation of astronautic clubs in schools, kids
will be able to have a hands-on approach to science in which they will
be able to think outside the box as well as learn leadership skills and
working in a team. This is the STEM approach, and the government is
activley promoting this cause. Simulator centre visits will inspire
school children and provide them the opportunity to see possible future
options in science and aviation related fields,” he added today.
In addition, without the support from corporate organisations such as
AACE and other government agencies such as the Ministry of Youth and
Science, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation, programmes such as Astronautics Club Malaysia will not be
able to take-off to become what it is today.
In the end, the most
important factor is making sure that the schoolchildren and members of
the astronautics club are inspired by the visit and take home with them
something intangible and meaningful that will aspire them to be the best
that they can be when they grow up, the moment they walk off from
AACE’s flight simulator training centre.
AACE is a joint-venture
between two aviation giants – which are CAE Inc of Canada (CAE) and
AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline for seven consecutive years.
The world-class training centre caters various aviation related training
services including jet pilot training, aircraft maintenance engineering
training for Airbus, flight attendant, guest services, ramp services,
professional development training, safety and handling of dangerous
goods training, aviation management and many more. AACE also holds
regulatory approvals from various National Aviation Authorities of
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Japan,
Dubai, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and many
more.
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