Japan’s Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is planning to use both digital and printed textbooks in elementary and junior high schools from the 2024 school year.
The ministry originally planned to fully introduce digital textbooks from 2024, but now intends to distribute printed textbooks for each subject, and limit the use of digital textbooks to English alone. Acknowledging the view that paper textbooks provide a strong foundation in traditional learning, the ministry has decided to initially introduce digital textbooks for the English language, including features such as text-to-speech.
The plan will be presented next week at a meeting of the Central Council for Education’s working group on digital textbooks, with the expectation that all elementary and junior high schools will be able to use digital English textbooks from 2024.
The ministry has made these digital textbooks available to some schools as part of a pilot project and learned that there is a great demand for the text-to-speech function.
The digital textbook campaign is part of the ministry’s Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) concept.
Though some working group members focused on the benefits of the high-tech books — such as being able to learn through repeatedly listening to audio recordings – several others strongly emphasised the importance of paper textbooks, saying such books “are also important” and that they “should be used in combination” with digital devices.
Communication-related issues may arise following the introduction of digital textbooks. When the ministry asked teachers — with multiple responses possible — to flag inconveniences with digital textbooks, 48.6% said, “it’s necessary to deal with screen freezes and error messages”.
In light of such feedback, the ministry intends to maintain the use of paper textbooks while gradually expanding the use of digital textbooks.
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Market access has been a major hurdle for farmers in Nepal, and sometimes they have to watch helplessly as their vegetables worth millions rot in the fields for lack of buyers. But not farmers in Gulmi: they have no such problem because a barter store comes to their villages.
Paicho Pasal, which operates a chain of barter stores, takes agricultural and forest products from the farmers and gives them daily essentials in exchange. They bring food products such as sugar, cooking oil and salt and garments to the villages, which they swap for farm products.
If the farmers don’t want to barter, the shops also pay cash.
“Paicho Pasal also invests in farmers,” said Keshav Neupane, its chief operating officer. “We provide technical service too. We help farmers to test the soil and provide quality seeds.”
The shop makes pickles, jam and other products from the organic produce collected from farmers. “We sell them in the domestic market and also export them,” said Neupane.
Ram Bahadur Nepali’s field is covered with cauliflowers, and he is not worried about their sale. Nepali of Basad in Rurukshetra Rural Municipality-5 has cultivated vegetables targeting the upcoming festivals.
“They will be ready for harvest during the Teej and Dashain festivals,” he said. Nepali switched to commercial vegetable farming after growing maize for several years.
“I earned extra money by planting turnip and coriander along with cauliflower,” he said. Nepali claims he makes Rs500,000 annually.
Paicho Pasal has been a boon for many farmers. “Small farmers can exchange their produce for daily necessities such as salt, oil, soap and food items,” Nepali said.
“We don’t have to worry about the market as Paicho collects our vegetables.”
Him Lal Puri from Bamgha has been a vegetable farmer for four decades and remembers having a hard time selling his vegetables whenever he had a bumper harvest.
“We had to carry our produce to markets in Ulli Khola and Khaireni Bazaar spending hours,” said Puri, who owns a 5-ropani farm.
“I sell vegetables worth Rs200,000 annually. The only expense is buying seeds.”
Until two years ago, Puri ploughed his fields using oxen. Now he uses a mini tiller. “The rise in our income has enabled us to use technology. We are also investing in our children’s education,” he said.
More than 150 households in Bamgha are engaged in commercial vegetable farming, according to Chet Narayan Shrestha, chairman of the Smart Agriculture Village Programme, an initiative of the provincial government to assist farmers.
“Paicho Pasal alone has been buying vegetables worth Rs20 million annually,” Shrestha said.
Paicho Pasal has motivated the villagers in commercial vegetable farming since 2014.
Earlier, farmers were engaged in traditional farming. Output was low and they could sell their products only when they had an abundant harvest. Modern technology has helped them to increase their production.
Iman Singh Rana of Chhatrakot Rural Municipality-2, Pallikot uses modern technology in farming. Rana has built 14 permanent tunnels or greenhouses made of plastic and bamboo.
“I have cultivated tomatoes on 10 ropanis,” said Rana. “In the same tunnels, I have also planted beans and cucumbers.”
Rana spent two decades of his youth as a welder in India. He started vegetable farming around seven years ago. “The income from farming has been better than what I used to make in India,” he said.
Rana has hired two farm hands to help him. “Besides one daily meal, I pay them Rs12,000 each a month,” he said. According to Rana, he makes a profit of Rs600,000 yearly.
Rana’s home is a collection centre for vegetables produced by local farmers. “We collect vegetables twice a week,” he said. “Then Paicho takes them away.”
Thulapokhara at Chhatrakot-1 is a vegetable production centre. Around 500 households in the area are involved in vegetable farming, according to local residents.
Bhuwan Kharal, 29, is among the highest earners in the area. “I produce vegetables worth Rs5 million annually,” said Kharal.
Chhatrakot Rural Municipality has prioritised the use of modern technology, according to Kharal. Every household has built plastic tunnels and uses mulching techniques.
Kharal grows vegetables on 80 ropanis. “Besides this, I am about to start a vegetable farm on 400 ropanis at Argheli in Palpa district,” he said.
“While tomatoes and chillies used to be produced in large quantities in the past, red turnip, cucumber, cauliflower and cabbage are also produced these days,” he added.
Kharal, who has a bachelor’s degree in education, had once made up his mind to go abroad to earn more. “But when I saw my elder brother flourishing on the farm, I changed my mind,” he said.
Paicho provides technical assistance to farmers, according to Kharal. “Technicians from Paicho visit us regularly,” he said.
Kharal produces 80 tonnes of tomatoes, 30 tonnes of chillies, 20 tonnes of cauliflowers and 10 tonnes of red turnips annually.
Farmers in many districts still rely on rainwater for irrigation. “We need irrigation facilities,” said Kharal.
According to Paicho, it has mobilised 16 technicians, including a graduate in agriculture, with different areas of expertise to assist the farmers across the district.
“Our technicians help farmers at every stage from planting to harvesting,” said Dhruba Neupane, managing director of Paicho Pasal.
“We have signed contracts with farmers to buy their produce since market access is equally important. We run a collection centre in every village. The farmers are paid instantly.”
Farmers in Gulmi produce vegetables worth Rs230 million every year, according to Navaraj Bhandari, chief of the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in the district.
Commercial vegetable farming is done on 960 hectares. The 5,000 tunnels or greenhouses cover an area of 30 hectares. Chhatrakot, Rurukshetra, Satyawati, Chandrakot and Kaligandaki rural municipalities, and Resunga and Musikot municipalities are pocket areas for vegetables.
While vegetables worth Rs127.5 million are sold in other districts, crops worth Rs102.5 million are consumed locally.
“Around 11,503 tonnes of vegetables are produced in the district every year,” said Bhandari. “There are 49,965 commercial vegetable farmers.”
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North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a series of articles last week advising how to act in times of flooding, with one of the directions saying, “Do not eat dirty food washed away in flood waters.”
The articles were carried from Wednesday to Friday to advise people about what to and not to do in times of typhoon, lightning and flooding, as a series of heavy downpours have battered the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks.
Noticeable among them was the advice to stay away from dirty food.
That illustrates the food shortages the destitute North has been suffering for decades even as the regime has pushed strongly for the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Other advice includes staying away from a street if water is ankle-deep because people can fall in just 15-centimetre-deep water and going up onto the roof when water fills up buildings.
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A New Zealand family told Reuters on Sunday they were surprised to find a seal had broken into their house, scaring away the family’s cat and lounging on the couch.
When Jenn Ross returned home on Wednesday morning, she initially thought the buckets tipped astray in the garage were the work of the family cat, Coco. She was not expecting the fur seal that was in the hallway instead.
“I hear this flippity-flop along the hallway and it’s like, ‘oh, that would be a seal, I cannot believe that would’ve come in through there,” she told Reuters.
After waking up her children with the news that there was a seal, which they nicknamed ‘Oscar’, downstairs, she called her husband, Phil Ross, who was at work at the time.
Mr Ross, who works as a marine biologist, said it was ironic that he was not at home when the seal showed up.
“I try and make attempts to bring my family out to some cool places I get to work, but on this occasion, work came home,” he said.
The family believes the seal followed their family cat, Coco, through two cat flaps into the house as she “made a dash to safety”. Coco was later found sheltering at their neighbour’s house and is still reluctant to go downstairs where the seal was.
They said that whilst it’s not uncommon for them to see seals around the area, as they only live a couple of hundred metres away from the shore, this was the first time they had heard of one entering a house.
The Department of Conservation ranger that captured the seal said he already had a busy morning with seal-related call outs, suspecting it was a result of recent bad weather in the country.
At least 12 people were killed when al Qaeda-linked militants attacked a hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, seizing hostages who authorities were still battling to free 24 hours later, an intelligence officer said on Saturday.
Gunfire could be heard on Saturday evening in Reuters footage, while small explosions were visible in the built-up areas surrounding the hotel.
The attackers blasted their way into the Hayat Hotel on Friday evening with two car bombs before opening fire. Somalia’s al Shabaab insurgents claimed responsibility.
“So far we have confirmed 12 people, mostly civilians, died,” Mohammed, an intelligence officer who only gave one name, told Reuters.
The gunmen were holding an unknown number of hostages on the second floor of the building, Mohammed said, preventing authorities from using heavy weapons.
They had also bombed out the stairs to make it harder to access certain floors, he said.
As the siege entered its second day on Saturday evening, authorities had secured 95% of the building, the state broadcaster Somali National Television said. The broadcaster did not give an updated number of casualties.
Those battling the militants inside the hotel include Gaashan, a paramilitary force specializing in counter-insurgency, a former security official familiar with the force told Reuters.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist group statements.
Thousands of traditionally dressed Zulu warriors and maidens descended upon KwaKhangelamankengane royal palace in KwaNongoma, to celebrate the traditional coronation of newly crowned Zulu king Misuzulu ka Zwelithini on Saturday.
The king was briskly swept into a private ceremony before meeting the chanting Amabutho warriors.
As he entered the cattle-pen, he was acknowledged by the Zulu nation as its new ruler.
Notable dignitaries including envoys from Swaziland, Zambia and South Africa attended the event.
The Zulu kingdom was thrown into disarray following the death of Goodwill Zwelithini, resulting in various succession battles and urgent court interdicts to halt the traditional coronation.
The ceremony marked Misuzulu ka Zwelithini’s acceptance by the kingdom as its new monarch.
A state ceremony is expected to take place at Moses Mabhida stadium later in the year.
A truck ploughed into a crowd near a filling station in the Derik district of Mardin in Turkey on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and injuring 29.
The accident happened as emergency services were attending the scene of another accident, according to video obtained by Reuters, which showed the green semi-trailer crashing into vehicles and pedestrians at high speed.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said eight of the wounded were in critical condition.
According to local reports, first respondents were attending to another accident when the truck lost control and drove into the site.
In another incident in the country, a further 16 people – including emergency workers and journalists – died when a bus crashed into an earlier accident site, regional governor Davut Gul from southeastern province of Gaziantep said. Another 20 people were wounded and received treatment.
Finland’s prime minister had good reason to go out and celebrate because her country is joining Nato, her Polish counterpart said on Friday, backing Sanna Marin’s party attendance as she faces a storm of criticism at home over leaked videos of the night out.
Video clips of the 36-year-old Marin partying with well-known Finnish influencers and artists began circulating in social media this week and were later published by media outlets in Finland and abroad.
“The prime minister has a reason to be happy because Finland joined Nato,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference when asked about the videos.
“So if on this occasion the prime minister of Finland drank a little more Finlandia (a vodka brand) and because of this danced, there is nothing terrible in that,” he added.
Marin said on Friday she had taken a drugs test following the publication of video footage this week that showed her partying with friends. She vowed she had never used illegal drugs and said her ability to perform her official duties had remained unimpaired on the Saturday night in question.
Nato’s 30 allies signed the accession protocol for Sweden and Finland last month, allowing them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once all member states ratify the decision.
Poland has strongly supported Finland’s membership in the alliance.
Nearly 18,000 Asia Pacific-based employees participated in PwC’s “Asia Pacific Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey 2022: Time for a rethink?”. Only 57% of employees across the region are satisfied with their job.
In the next 12 months, around one-third of employees surveyed plan to ask for a raise and the same proportion say they are likely to ask for a promotion. One in five intend to switch to a new employer.
These results should be a wake-up call for companies across the region, many of whom have already been grappling with a skill and talent shortage for years.
Raymund Chao, PwC Asia Pacific and China Chairman, commented, “People play a significant part in shaping the long-term strategic success of businesses. As the world continues to be disrupted, employees across Asia Pacific are rethinking their lifestyles, and work is topping the list.”
The dynamics of the workforce are changing at a rate not seen before, with demand for different ways of working continuing to evolve.
To address skills shortages, businesses need to invest in upskilling their people for the longer term that are mutually beneficial.
” Employees are also looking to their employers for more support in ethical decision-making and minimising their impact on the environment. By bringing the best of people and technology together, we can continue to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes,” Chao added.
Money matters, but so does meaning. With employees more empowered than ever, simply offering more pay is not the answer. In the current tight labour market, some sectors are offering hiring premiums of 20-40%.
This is not sustainable. 68% of workers want to be rewarded fairly, but they also value other things. 64% want work that provides a sense of fulfilment and meaning, and 62% want to be able to bring their authentic selves to work.
These priorities are the same regardless of whether employees work remotely, hybrid or always in-person.
When it comes to retaining talent, our survey shows that there is room for significant improvement for Asia Pacific-based organisations:
• Only 36% of employees surveyed say their employer supports workers with their physical and mental well-being.
• 66% of employees surveyed feel they lack support for ethical decision making.
• 73% of employees surveyed feel they lack support for minimising their company’s impact on the environment.
Upskilling needs to be mutually beneficial
According to our survey, less than half (45%) of employers are upskilling their workers. Too often, companies see upskilling as a short-term fix for plugging immediate skills gaps rather than a way to develop a strategically competitive workforce.
One-third say that their territory lacks people with the skills to do their job. Leaders need to think about upskilling in a more holistic way. This means considering the needs of both employees and the company over the longer term, as well as the changes in the wider market.
Norah Seddon, People & Organisation Leader, PwC Asia Pacific and Australia, commented, “While all stakeholders are important, the voices of employees are particularly critical. A company cannot be truly successful over the long term if its core purpose is not aligned with the values of the people that work for it.”
” An organisation’s stance is becoming increasingly important for attracting and retaining top talent. People are voting with their heads and hearts, and ultimately, their feet,” Seddon added.
Hybrid work is here to stay The survey has revealed that hybrid work is here to stay. 68% of Asia Pacific respondents think their employer will expect hybrid working in the next 12 months, and this is the preference for around the same proportion of employees. Across the region, only 10% of workers would prefer to work in person 12 months from now.
Although the majority of employees prefer hybrid work, companies need to be careful not to overlook those who work completely remotely or completely in person.
The 38% of workers who can’t work remotely are less likely to find their job fulfilling. At the other end of the scale, employees who work completely remotely are twice as concerned about being passed over for a promotion and are more likely to change jobs.
Chanchai Chaiprasit, CEO for PwC Thailand, added that supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace is among the top agendas that Thai employees demand their employer’s support.
Indeed, 43% of those surveyed want their employers to accept differing opinions to create a work environment where everyone collaborates effectively.
According to the report, which also surveyed 1,000 Thai employees, 73% expect their employers to deploy a hybrid working model in the next 12 months, and only 4% prefer in-person work at the office. “Many organisations are gradually calling their employees back to the office as the COVID-19 situation begins to subside,” Chanchai said.
“But business leaders must also consider which working model suits their business and employees’ preferences in shaping their jobs. Today we must accept that employees want and expect their employers to implement workplace flexibility in the office due to the new normal that changes how we work. Without flexibility, it will cause employees to challenge the organisation’s policies and eventually lead to talent leaving the company, making this a sensitive issue,” he said.
Chanchai concluded that no matter which workplace model an organisation chooses, employees must be involved in sharing their opinions before implementing new company policies.
To further facilitate the new normal of work from anywhere, investment in new technologies will remain critical for organisations in the future.
The metaverse is not a “pure virtual world” so services and partners are still needed as a bridge to real life, a digital asset company chief told the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” in Bangkok on Saturday.
Nuttapong Tungdajahirun, CEO Sabuy Digital, a unit of SET-listed Sabuy Technology (SABUY), shed light on how to function between the virtual and real worlds in the topic “Connecting the Metaverse with Reality”.
Just like opening a bank account, users are first verified via the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, he said. Next, to spend money in the metaverse, they have to exchange real-life currency for the cryptocurrency specific to the platform. All transactions in the metaverse are settled with crypto or digital assets.
However, Nuttapong pointed out that the virtual worlds of the metaverse still have their limits.
While users can touch, see and hear objects and products in the metaverse via virtual reality goggles, gloves, etc, they still cannot taste or touch them. So, in the absence of “full immersion”, users will experience a hybrid real-virtual world, he said. In other words, they can earn currency in the metaverse to spend on products like food and beverages in the real world.
Nuttapong said many activities in every metaverse are still connected with the real world. Sabuy Digital is offering infrastructure services that link the two worlds.
He explained that his company was filling this gap and other needs with a digital payment gateway, broker/dealer services, token issuance, and crypto fund management.
Sabuy is also building infrastructure to meet the metaverse demands of both large companies and SME partners. Some SMEs have found difficulties in utilising metaverse technology so the company is offering solutions tailored to their needs.
Nuttapong said Sabuy has more than 100,000 online and offline touchpoints and aimed to have more than 500,000 touchpoints this year where customers could exchange products or complete the KYC process.
He gave the example of the growing virtual sphere of gamification, which is connected to reality via Sabuy’s FIIT token. Users can play games or do virtual exercise to earn the tokens, which they can then exchange for products in the real world.
“Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022” is organised by Nation Group and runs at CentralWorld in Bangkok until Sunday (August 21).
