Off-grid Solutions Project​

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About 400 children participated in an essay contest

Photo: Shooting with winners

We want to give children the opportunity to cultivate their minds and to acquire the ability to write on their own. It was from this desire that we started the competition for children to write book reports based on the learning material "If You Could Have a Sunao Mind; What Konosuke Matsushita Wanted to Teach Junior High School Students," which is a book that serves as an entry into the Matsushita Philosophy of Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic. Approximately 10,000 copies were translated into the Myanmar language and distributed to around 1,600 locations including junior high and senior high schools in the Ayeyarwady Region. Among those, pieces of writing were collected from around 400 students from 50 Association for Rengein Tanjoji International Cooperation (ARTIC) assist schools and an awards ceremony was held at the ARTIC Human Resources Development Center. (March 2019)

Photo: Award ceremony

Twelve pieces of writing were chosen as outstanding works and 103 people participated in an awards ceremony, including the winning children and their families and teachers, and the Deputy Director of the Ayeyarwady Region Education Office participated as a guest. Additionally, the learning materials for the contest, "If You Could Have a Sunao Mind" (authored by the PHP Institute) is a book that conveys the habit of mind for realizing success at work and a happy life, which Konosuke Matsushita, who was also a philosopher, spent his life to attain, in an easy-to-understand manner for children.

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Mg Htun Win Naing (8th grade), winner of the highest Panasonic Award. "My dream is to become a doctor. I want to open a clinic in a rural area to take care of villagers as well as others living in the outskirts of the area. I believe that I can make my dream come true as long as I study hard with a sunao mind."
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Ma Ei Myat Noe Htet (7th grade), winner of the PHP Award. "I want to make my life happy together with people who have a sunao mind. That's because I think that we can make a happy world if we combine the strengths of people who respect each other."
Photo: Lecture

Also, on March 1, which was the day before the awards ceremony for the contest, a lecture in two parts was held by the PHP Institute to introduce Konosuke Matsushita's Management Philosophy to Japanese corporations operating in Myanmar. The first part saw about 50 participants from 33 corporations who are members of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Myanmar, and the second part saw 18 participants from small to medium enterprises and consulting firms. There was also an introduction of Panasonic's Off-grid Solutions Project in Myanmar.

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