| Danial Norjidi |
A TEAM from Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Damit Girls Arabic Religious Secondary School emerged as the champions of the Brunei Entrepreneurship Education Scheme (BEES) Convention Second Chapter for their innovative Sayf songkok project.
They won a trophy, certificates and a total cash prize of BND2,500 – BND1,000 as seed money for the school, and BND1,500 for the students.
The Convention for the BEES Second Chapter took place yesterday at the Manggis Ballroom of Hua Ho Manggis Mall.
This year’s convention was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP) and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Shamsiah Zuraini Kanchanawati binti Haji Tajuddin was the guest of honour.
BEES Second Chapter focusses on nurturing the entrepreneurial mindset of the participants by forming a three year (2016 – 2018) strategic-based thematic programme namely ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Pitching’ in 2016, ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Innovation’ in 2017 and ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset on Sustainability’ in 2018.
Yesterday, the top six schools competed in the final pitching competition of BEES Second Chapter programme 2018.
The first runner-up spot went to Sports School who produced a jacket that also turns into a backpack.
They were awarded a trophy, certificates as well as a total cash prize of BND1,500 – BND500 seed money for the school and BND1,000 for the students.
Sultan Sharif Ali Secondary School’s product, the Vespac Ultra, garnered them the second runner-up spot, winning a trophy, certificates and BND1,000 – BND500 seed money for the school and BND500 for the students.
Third runner-up spot went to Seri Mulia Sarjana School for their Eco Bn project, which is a bin that has an integrated can crusher.
They were awarded a trophy, certificates and BND750, of which BND500 is seed money for the school and BND250 is for the students.
St Andrew’s School finished as fourth runner-up for their educational boardgame, EduBoard, while St George’s School was named fifth runner-up for its rubbish bag dispenser, Binny Bin. Both teams were each awarded a trophy and certificates as well as BND500 seed money for their schools, respectively.
A total of 15 schools participated in this year’s BEES Second Chapter programme, including 10 from government secondary schools, four from non-government secondary schools and one from an Arabic secondary school.
The programme was open to students of secondary school from Year 9 and Year 10, not only of Accounting and Business subjects but also from other subject fields such as Sciences, Mathematics, Design and Technology, Arabic Language and other subjects. This was to inculcate interdisciplinary knowledge and to produce both creative and innovative products and services.
This year’s ‘sustainability-themed’ competition was judged on the following criteria: clarity, pitching skills, creativity and innovativeness, market potential, and sustainability.
Acting Director of Curriculum Development Haji Zulkefli bin Haji Mohd Yusuf delivered a welcoming address.
“In addition to producing innovative product types, BEES 2.0 students should take into account the sustainable nature of their products in terms of having the potential to grow and enter the market, giving a positive impact to sustainability elements such as the economy, environment and society,” he said.
The BEES Second Chapter programme was first introduced in 2016, where a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the MoE, BSP and UBD.
The BEES Second Chapter is coordinated by the Core Education team of Entrepreneurship Village (EV), UBD and in collaboration with the Curriculum Development Department, MoE.