In contrast to the rapid growth and urbanization of Jakarta, the education condition in the city is far from satisfactory. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (2006) shows that 117,444 school age children between the ages 7-18 are unable to continue their schooling.

With deep concern for social issues, primarily for the education condition in Indonesia, AXA Indonesia is once again mounting “AXA Heart in Action”, a social awareness program which AXA Indonesia has been conducting on a regular basis. The activity represents a synergy of AXA companies in Indonesia, both Life & General divisions,  which discusses education related issues, since education is one of the focus areas of AXA this year in addition to retirement and health.

“We are running a campaign under the general theme of education, since we realize that one of the best ways for a child to obtain education is through the existence of a financial assistance scheme.” said Randy Lianggara, CEO of AXA Indonesia.

This time around AXA Hearts In Action has been given the name AXA Scholarship Program and is aimed at helping promising elementary students on the brink of dropping out due to financial limitations to continue their education.

“Education is one of the most important determinants for future sucess for every individual, and therefore it is very important to help children reach their dreams and aspirations” Randy added. All scholarship recipients, which are Grade 3 and 4 elementary students, will receive three-year scholarships.

AXA Indonesia’s decision to channel the assistance through Sampoerna Foundation was due to their trust gained from a number of experiences and the professionalism which the Foundation has shown in delivering the education assistance to the beneficiaries.

During his opening remarks at the event, Ron Perkinson, president of Sampoerna Foundation pointed out that “the complexity of the problems in the Indonesian education landsape requires that all parties provide their support on a continual basis. The collaboration between Sampoerna Foundation and AXA Indonesia is seen as an initial positive step in increasing the access rate of Indonsian students to education.”

Aside from the 126 scholarships for which the company has set aside funds, AXA employees have agreed to raise funds to add the number of scholars to recieve scholarships. After a month of fundraising activities, on Thursday (10/7), the AXA employee fundraiser was officially closed. With the total funds collected, AXA Indonsia was able to raise the number of students to 150.

“In addition to Customer Centricity, AXA also continues to encourage Employee Engagement in each of our programs. This of course is one of the reasons behind the success AXA has had in pursuing its stated vision of becoming The Preferred Company in 2012. Our employees, being proud to be part of one of the largest companies in the world, are enthusiastic about giving their best contribution for the surrounding communities,” said Randy Lainggara in his closing remarks.