Briefs

New cane cutter wins invention award

The Bangkok Bank Foundation and the Science and Technology Ministry recently presented the 17th Science and Technology Invention Awards 2011.

The competition, held under the concept of "Machinery, Energy and Environment for Agriculture', marked 17 years of effort by the foundation in promoting local inventions.

Fifty-five inventions were entered in this year's competition.

The winner was a new cutting machine for sugar cane harvesting. The second was a longan-pitting machine with double pitting heads, and the third was a water-quality improvement machine for aquaculture, with blades operated by water flow.

Four innovations were also given highly commended awards. These were a new lawn-mower blade, a machine to cut sticky desserts into rectangular shapes, a dry rice-sowing machine attached to a tractor and a ride-on mower with two engines.

Learning centres

There was a time when teachers expected great things from all of their students. These days, their hopes are tempered by the known abilities of each student.

To many teachers, the perception changed when the sufficiency philosophy was applied to Thailand's educational process. This kind of perception is being pursued by the Education Ministry and the Siam Commercial Foundation.

Late in May, the foundation hosted a "knowledge market", attended by more that 600 school administrators, teachers and students from 145 schools.

The third event of its kind, the market sought to drive forward the sufficiency philosophy. Participating schools were able to exchange their experiences and turn themselves into learning centres. The foundation aims to create 84 learning centres around the country to commemorate His Majesty the King's 84th birthday later this year.

Foundation chairman Chirayu Isarangkun na Ayuthaya said that so far, 13 schools had achieved the criteria to become learning centres. While these centres will enjoy support from the foundation, "they will play a crucial role in introducing the philosophy to other schools, other communities and to society as a whole", he said.

Roche children's walk

Every year since 2003, employees of Swiss pharmaceuticals firm Roche around the world have raised awareness of children in need by walking to collect donations for day-care centres in Malawi and children's charities in their own countries.

Their commitment is supported by Roche, which organises the Children's Walk and matches donations collected by employees.

This year, the walk took place on June 16 - the International Day of the African Child - uniting about 15,000 Roche employees at more than 100 sites around the world.

Roche chief executive Severin Schwan said the walk was an important day on the Roche calendar. Not only does it unite employees from all over the world behind one good cause, but it also serves to remind them that they can have an impact and improve other people's lives.

To date, the Roche Children's Walk has raised more than 7 million Swiss francs (Bt252.96 million). It provides school uniforms and meals to more than 13,000 orphans, supports nearly 100 children every year to pursue secondary education and more than 100 young adults to receive post-secondary education, including training student teachers.

In addition, 3000 young people have received training in practical skills such as knitting, tin-smithing and carpentry to enable communities to become more self-sufficient for a brighter future.