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Interesting education program in the land of rising sun. (not the type @Jamesc is very familiar with though hahahaha) Source: https://soranews24.com/2024/05/25/himakajima-the-japanese-island-with-one-traffic-light-that-only-turns-green-once-a-year/ People tend to imagine the urban sprawl of Tokyo when envisioning Japan, but the country has a vast countryside too, with places that can give the quaintest parts of the world a run for their money. One such place is the small island of Himakajima a few dozen kilometers south of Nagoya, in between Ise Bay and Mikawa Bay. It’s a picturesque little island with nice beaches, tasty octopus, and a population that tends to hover around 2,000. In addition, one of its more unique features is its lone set of traffic lights on the southeastern coast. While there are countless small towns that only have “the traffic lights,” Himakajima’s are special in that they only turn green – or “blue” as they call it in Japanese – on one day out of the year. For the other 364.25 days, these lights are in a constant state of flashing yellow in the direction of the coastal road and flashing red on the road leading into Hakajima East Port, making them equivalent to a pair of stop signs in the north-south direction. The reason is that these stop lights were never intended to serve any sort of traffic control. They were installed in 1994 at the request of the Himaka Traffic Safety Association to help teach the island’s children how to follow the signals in case they move out to a big city someday. Prior to the traffic lights, a smaller prop was used to teach kids but they always felt a disconnect between it and the real thing. Now, for one day in May, the lights are set to turn green so the kids can practice using them properly and safely. This year the green light was activated on May 21, and once again children congregated at the intersection to get a feel for the timing of it and practice looking right, left, and right again before raising their arm and crossing the street. One young girl told reporters that she was surprised how tricky it was when the light turned red while she was walking her bike across the zebra stripes. If you’d like to witness this yearly event, it might be hard to pinpoint the exact date, but the lights have their own page on the Himakajima website for a good place to start. Even if you do miss it, there’s still a lot to see, do, and eat there so you won’t be disappointed. It serves as a reminder that Japan isn’t all robots, 3-D billboards, and fax machines.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Singapore-seeks-to-stay-competitive-by-retraining-entire-workforce?utm_campaign=GL_asia_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=1&pub_date=20220801123000&seq_num=5&si=44594 Singapore seeks to stay competitive by retraining entire workforce PayPal and Microsoft partner with national 'reskilling' program Singapore has offered midcareer training opportunities through the SkillsFuture program since 2014. © Reuters TAKASHI NAKANO, KOITSU YAMADA and YOSUKE KURABE, Nikkei staff writersJuly 30, 2022 10:00 JST SINGAPORE/TOKYO -- Caught between a declining birthrate and a rising anti-immigrant sentiment, Singapore has decided to retrain its own citizens for tech jobs that are expected to drive the country's growth. Gangadevi Balakrishnan, a software engineer, owes her current position at PayPal to the government's reskilling program. Gangadevi Balakrishnan owes her job at PayPal to Singapore's reskilling program. She is eager to acquire more new skills. "I am personally interested in security and artificial intelligence. Therefore, I will be looking into programs and courses related to these areas." said Balakrishnan, 29. The program, SkillsFuture, began in 2014 to retrain the entire population of Singapore. It has provided credits for people 25 and older to study more than 24,000 courses ranging from digital technology to business management. SkillsFuture is a response to a sense of looming crisis fueled by the city-state's declining population. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, once said that without immigrants the economy would collapse by 2050, when 1.5 workers would have to support one elderly person. During Singapore's high-growth period in the 1980s and 1990s, the influx of immigrants made up for the low birthrate. But more and more citizens have become concerned about the increase in immigration, with some accusing them of stealing jobs. In response, the government has tightened entry restrictions on foreigners, who make up nearly 30% of the population. Last year, Singapore's population of foreigners fell 10% to 1.47 million, a drop that owes chiefly to the country's COVID travel controls. Singapore's overall population has declined for two consecutive years for the first time ever. That leaves the country with no choice but to train its existing population, including middle-aged and elderly people. The government has placed its bet on raising productivity. The reskilling movement has entered its second phase, shifting into higher gear during the pandemic instead of pumping the brakes. Citizens receive access to credits, but there also are partnership programs formed with companies at home and abroad to develop skill sets that match specific job classifications in demand. PayPal is one partner, along with Microsoft, Siemens and several other big-name corporations. A public-private citizen retraining program of this scope has few precedents. Singapore's Skillsfuture program provides training support for over 24,000 courses ranging from digital technology to business management. Last year, around 660,000 people received support. This is equivalent to one-quarter of the country's total working-age residents. "We can't change the genetic composition of our population. But we can maximize their potential with education and training," Lee once said. Singapore's per capita labor productivity totaled about $170,000 in 2020, an average annual increase of roughly 3% since 2015. For a wealthy country, those numbers demonstrate the difficulty of shooting for a higher level. Luxembourg, whose per capita gross domestic product is at the top level, also faces slow growth in labor productivity, prompting a policy reboot. The country launched a project to support learning of advanced skills. From 2020, digital technology has been added to the curriculum for elementary- and secondary-school students. Declining populations and an accompanying slowdown in economic growth will be part of a future creeping up on Japan and other advanced nations. Digitalization of industry, deregulation to promote growth and retraining populations can offer a path away from that fate.

Urban legend or dream come true? Former journalist and bank employee training to be doctors https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/former-journalist-and-bank-employee-training-be-doctors Ex-VP of bank and former journalist among this year's intake of future clinicians at Duke-NUS Medical School. One worked in a bank. Another was a former journalist. And now, they are studying to be doctors. They are two of the 81 students in this year's intake of future clinicians at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore's only graduate medical school. Mr Lim Chun Chai, 39, a father of two, was a vice-president at OCBC Bank for nine years. He was responsible for processing and documenting corporate loans. Ms Hoe Pei Shan, 31, is a former journalist at The New Paper, The Straits Times and The Business Times. If they complete their four-year graduate programme, they will be awarded a medical degree in 2023. Before enrolling at Duke-NUS, both Mr Lim and Ms Hoe took the Medical College Admission Test administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

my instructors used to run along with us .... but appears this word has now taken a new turn ...

colleague just came back reservist today. he said very relac as all training programs were cancelled. reason??? 1 unlicensed guy drove a military vehicle, the vehicle overturned and killed one NS man on the spot. heard that the lower part of the NS body was "cut" into two by the overturned vehicle!!!! The unlicensed driver is a regular Sergent. so 2 injured 1 instant death. Y the no license Sergent was allowed to drive a military vehicle is a myth till now. wasnt reported in the newspaper or did I missed it?

I read our minister say how much money our saf save.... but my experience with my reservist unit feels the exact opposite. It feels like they have to spend their Budget else it will be cut next year kind of feeling. I am curios is it like a widespread kind of thing or it’s just my unit? My unit is not conbat fit so maybe it is different from mainstream saf.

hi all, need advice from those who attended the RT sessions under the new IPPT scheme (9 months window for IPPT, then 3 months for RT). first time kena RT.. need to know if we have to go for all 20 compulsory sessions or not? Or is there an IPPT session conducted on the 1st or 4th or whichever session, after which if i pass i need not go for RT anymore? tried searching ns.sg and mindef website, they did not mention anything about this. damn sian to go RT.. sibeh waste time sia.

Hi, Anyone applies for specialist diploma course under WDA - SME funding before? If my staff wants to apply for a course, can he apply the course first with the polytechnic or must he wait for the company to register with WDA for approval before the staff can proceed to apply the course?

Army regular found dead in SAF training area Published on Jul 16, 2013 10:52 PM By Jermyn Chow AN army regular was found dead in the Singapore Armed Forces training area in Lentor on Tuesday, said the Defence Ministry. In a statement released on Tuesday night, Mindef said First Warrant Officer (1WO) Rajendran Pachemuthu,51, was found hanging from a rope in the Lentor training area by two civilian contractors who were maintaining SAF training equipment. There was no SAF training conducted in the area in the last two days, Mindef added. The contractors reported the incident to Master Warrant Officer Ong Chin Sai, a commander from Engineers Training Institute, who headed to the site and made a police report at 12:20 pm.

China military training inadequate for winning a war: army paper China's military authority has sent a document to military units detailing 40 weaknesses in current training methods, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said in a front-page story. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/12/us-china-military-idUSKCN0I108Q20141012 (Reuters) - Weaknesses in China's military training pose a threat to the country's ability to fight and win a war, China's official military newspaper said on Sunday. China's military authority has sent a document to military units detailing 40 weaknesses in current training methods, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said in a front-page story. "These problems reflect shortcomings and weak-points in the makeup of our military fighting force. If they are not promptly dealt with, then they will certainly affect and hinder our army's ability to go to war," the paper said, citing the PLA general staff headquarters. President Xi Jinping has been pushing to strengthen the fighting ability of China's 2.3 million-strong armed forces, the world's largest, and stepping up efforts to modernize forces that are projecting power across disputed waters in the East and South China Seas. The country's armed forces came under fire earlier this year from serving and retired Chinese officers and state media who questioned whether the force was too corrupt to win a war. The military newspaper said China needed to find a cure for the "peace disease" affecting its training regime to ensure the armed forces could master the ability to win a real conflict. Military authorities identified issues for the country's army, navy and air force, including training standards and styles by commanders and military units. The problems were identified through supervision of drills, including joint exercises with foreign armed forces, the PLA Daily said. China has developed stealth jets and has built one aircraft carrier

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has suspended training with smoke grenades, pending completion of the Committee Of Inquiry into a full-time national serviceman

not sure if this type of training is just for the camera but they really got guts (esp the last 10 mins of the video).

this will come in useful in boleh if attacked by robbers but hes dam lucky they had no knives or guns

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/courts-crime/story/man-sentenced-jail-caning-possession-air-pistol-unexecuted-bank-ro According to this article: The court heard that Ng had received the air pistol from his 27-year-old brother, a regular serviceman in the Singapore Navy. His brother had brought it back from Taiwan in May 2013. Does this mean that navy personnel training overseas are smuggling all sorts of contraband into Singapore? I wonder why there is no mention of whether any action has been taken against his brother for importing the gun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/world/asia/2-south-korean-soldiers-die-in-anti-captivity-training.html?_r=0 SEOUL, South Korea — Two South Korean soldiers died late Tuesday during an exercise meant to prepare them for capture by the enemy, military officials said Wednesday. The apparent cause was suffocation, they said. The two soldiers were staff sergeants in a special forces unit based in Jeungpyeong, about 60 miles southeast of Seoul, according to a spokesman for their unit, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified. The soldiers’ full names were not released. The spokesman said they were both in their early 20s. The training exercise, conducted at the base, was meant to teach the soldiers to endure captivity should they be taken prisoner, the spokesman said. The soldiers were required to kneel with hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs. Trainers realized the exercise was going wrong when another soldier, who was later hospitalized, screamed and flailed his legs, the spokesman said. He said the military was investigating the deaths, with a particular focus on whether the training had been properly supervised. The incident occurred at a time when the South Korean military was already facing public anger over the beating death of a private following weeks of abuse from fellow soldiers. Homicide charges were filed this week against four soldiers in the private’s unit, who initially had faced lesser charges. The army chief of staff resigned over public criticism that the military tried to cover up the abuse the private suffered. South Korea maintains a military of 650,000 people, most of them conscripts, as a bulwark against North Korea, with which it has technically been at war since 1950. Reminds me of the dunking incident conducted by our SAF back in 2003.......

Singapore Polytechnic and the Agency of Integrated Care and Temasek Cares have come up with a floor projection system that will help the elderly in road-crossing scenarios. Ceiling-mounted cameras will track the motion of the subject via sensors attached to an ankle, a knee and a hip (above). Singapore Polytechnic and the Agency of Integrated Care and Temasek Cares have come up with a floor projection system (above) that will help the elderly in road-crossing scenarios. Ceiling-mounted cameras will track the motion of the subject via sensors attached to an ankle, a knee and a hip. An elderly person walks along a zebra crossing, just as a car screeches to a halt to avert an accident. Such a scenario plays out every day at busy traffic junctions, resulting in potential danger to the elderly. But some seniors can soon learn how to safely cross roads, among other scenarios, at St Andrew's Community Hospital. Singapore Polytechnic has partnered the Agency of Integrated Care and Temasek Cares to come up with a floor projection system at the hospital that trains the elderly on road safety. The project comes amid a worrying trend of rising road casualties involving the elderly. In the first six months of this year, 102 elderly pedestrians died or were injured, police told The Sunday Times. Last year, the number of casualties who were elderly rose 13 per cent to 226, from 200 in 2011. Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/road-safety-training-the-elderly-20131027

Tragic training accident The number of casualties are simply mind-boggling... Likely a tube explosion which made it a massive exploding grenade spilling thousands of deadly shrapnels all over? From ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/mortar-rounds-sus...ory?id=18762644 Use of Some Mortar Rounds Suspended After Accident Kills Seven Marines By LUIS MARTINEZ (@LMartinezABC) and ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb) March 19, 2013 Seven Marines were killed and at least seven others were injured when a powerful 60mm mortar exploded in a tube during a training exercise in Nevada, the Marines said today. The Marines have issued a suspension on the use of all 60mm mortars and their associated tubes while they conduct a review of what caused a round to explode. The suspension will affect mortars used both in training and in deployed settings. The Marines, who were from the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., were conducting live fire maneuver training at the Hawthorne Army Depot 140 miles southeast of Reno, Nev., Sunday when Lukeman said it appeared a mortar round exploded in a tube at 9:55 p.m. MST. One sailor was among the injured in the blast, Brig. Gen. Jim Lukeman said today. A Defense official later told ABC News that the sailor was a Navy corpsman working with the unit. It was not clear where the Marines were standing or the cause of the blast, which Lukeman said is under investigation. The survivors are being treated at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno for injuries that include trauma fractures and vascular injuries, hospital spokeswoman Stacy Kendall told ABC News. Two Marines and one sailor are very seriously injured, while three Marines have serious injuries and a seventh Marine was treated for minor injuries, Lukeman said. The Marines had been training at the Hawthorne Army Depot and the nearby Mountain Warfare Training Center for the past month, Lukeman said. The training was not in anticipation of an imminent deployment, he said. The mountainous desert terrain of the 230-square-mile depot is used as a training location for special forces since it "provides a realistic simulation of the situation in Afghanistan," according to the depot's website. The depot is also used as a storage site for ammunition awaiting demilitarization. It takes several Marines to fire a 60mm mortar and they must "work together to provide constant and accurate high-angle suppressive fire," according to the Marines' website. The mortar the Marines were using is a "lightweight company mortar fired from a stationary position," Lukeman said. The Marine Corps is notifying families before releasing the identities of those who were killed. Lukeman said the names would be made public 24 hours after all the next of kin were notified. "Our first priority is to provide them the support they need during this very difficult time," he said. ABC News' Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report

For bros who still have NS liabilities please take care. Go have yourself checked for medical conditions for if you feel out of breath or uncomfirtable during trainings. Having heart attack at 32 is rather unusual and hope LCP (NS) Chew recovers soon. From AsiaOne: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...222-403997.html NSman suffers cardiac arrest during IPPT training AsiaOne Friday, Feb 22, 2013 A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Operationally-Ready National Serviceman, Lance Corporal (LCP) (NS) Chew Koh Leong, 32, suffered a cardiac arrest on Thursday, Feb 21, at 7.25pm while performing his IPPT Preparatory Training in Maju Camp. LCP(NS) Chew had no known prior history of heart disease. He was successfully resuscitated by an SAF medical doctor and medic, and was sent to the National University Hospital at 7.55pm. He is being treated in the intensive care unit and the cause of his cardiac arrest investigated by NUH specialists. The SAF is providing assistance to LCP(NS) Chew's family.

Machiam some kind of weird cult

From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1195800/1/.html SAF full-time NSman dies during training at Lim Chu Kang By Imelda Saad | Posted: 17 April 2012 1840 hrs

If this is true, I really dunno what to say liao . Maybe PAP need to pray to Guan Yin Ma in Waterloo Street and 拜天公。. So much crap happening to them. http://temasekrevealed.blogspot.com/2012/0...ot-dead-in.html

Oh no another tragic case of NS man dying during IPPT and this time after the 2.4km run... From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1175904/1/.html NS man dies while undergoing in-camp training Posted: 10 January 2012 1708 hrs SINGAPORE: A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Operationally-Ready National Serviceman died Tuesday after completing a 2.4 kilometre run. A statement from the Defence Ministry said 28-year-old Corporal (CPL) (NS) Li Hongyang was taking his Individual Physical Proficiency Test when he fainted at about 8.30 am on Tuesday. The incident took place at Kranji Camp III. MINDEF said an SAF medic on site attended to Corporal Li immediately and evacuated him via a safety vehicle to the Kranji Medical Centre where an SAF doctor attended to him. Corporal Li was then sent to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital at 9.00 am. MINDEF said the SAF doctor continued to resuscitate him in the ambulance en route to the hospital. Corporal Li was pronounced dead at 9.40 am at the hospital. Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) Gan Fong Yin, Commanding Officer of 62 Combat Service Support Battalion, said: "Hongyang was a cherished member of the battalion. His demise is definitely a loss to the battalion. We will miss him and our hearts go out to his family." - CNA/cc

Heaven

'Foreign workers should get training too', says MP Yeo Guat Kwang Published on Sep 19, 2011 By Lin Wenjian Foreign workers should get skills upgrading similar to what Singaporeans go through, suggested labour MP Yeo Guat Kwang. Noting that this would 'create a level playing field' for all workers, he said training and certification for work permit and S Pass holders should be done within the first two years of their employment. Successful certification should then be used as a condition for work pass renewal, he said. Mr Yeo, speaking to The Straits Times in his capacity as chairman of the Migrant Workers Centre (MWC), said training could be done in two ways - either through in-house courses conducted by employers, or via the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) programme. --------------- Alamak, where else can you find a country like Singapore? Help foreigners find work, and help unskilled foreigners to upgrade (most of whom will leave in 2-3 years), and at whose expense?

Hard training, good shoes That's the key to get ahead in income race: Gan SINGAPORE - With Opposition parties questioning whether wages have kept pace with economic growth, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said yesterday there is only one real solution. Likening it to a race, he said it was not possible to eliminate other competitors or set rules to disallow others from running faster. Instead, the way to get ahead in the income race is through hard training and with good running shoes. Sustainable income growth was the emphasis yesterday, as four People's Action Party leaders - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, labour chief Lim Swee Say and Mr Gan - took on a hot issue at Opposition rallies so far. In a nutshell, they said the key to that sustainability was skills upgrading. Their responses came a day after the National Wages Council (NWC) had recommended a higher total wage increase this year, and on the eve of the labour movement's May Day Rally. And when the Opposition question was put to him, Mr Lim said: "I don't know what they mean. In our case, when the economy does well, when then industries do well, under our NWC guideline, they have to share the gain. "If (the Opposition) have better guidelines, they can issue the guidelines and let the tripartite partners take a look. And from there, we can explain to workers why we feel that our guideline, up to now, is the right way." The NWC's call for higher fixed wages and bonuses comes after it urged caution during the 2009 recession. But it gave a "good recommendation" last year, even if it noted the need to be cautious because the rest of the world had not recovered yet, Mr Gan told Today in response to comments by an Opposition candidate that this year's guidelines have come too late. And the wage recommendation this year is exactly how Mr Lim thinks it should be done: "Higher increase in total wages, not higher increase in built-in wages." The reason is due to the "uncertainty ahead" in Japan, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, which several PAP leaders had cited on Thursday and which Mr Lim believes is why there is no contradiction between the People's Action Party's (PAP) note of caution and NWC's strong wage guidelines. "One is responsiveness to the upturn, share the gain with the workers, and yet ... flexibility in our wage system so that we can respond should there be a downturn," he told Today. As to the overall Opposition charge that the widening income gap and rising cost of living was a result of the PAP, MM Lee said the PAP's policies are "the rising tide". "All boats have risen, but not equally. It depends on your ability, it depends on your diligence, it depends on your educational standards, and the income gap must widen because worldwide it's widening," he said. He cited the competition that China, India and even Vietnam is posing at lower end of the job market, and said Singapore will "just have to upgrade our workers so that they can go on to the middle-level jobs". And in his May Day message, PM Lee said that skills upgrading and productivity is the most effective way "to keep on raising incomes". "I encourage workers to take up the Continuous Education and Training opportunities, master new skills, and benefit from the better-paying jobs that we're creating," he said. Mr Gan also said Singapore must have the right policies to "attract new investments and create more and better jobs". When asked after his rally speech at Chua Chu Kang stadium if the NWC's latest wage guidelines were timed to coincide with the elections, which an Opposition candidate had suggested, he supposed that the council had "very few issues to debate". "So they reach their conclusion earlier and decide to announce it earlier. Because it's good news, it's better to announce earlier so that more workers can benefit from the good news," he added. With additional reporting by Ansley Ng, Ong Dai Lin and Tan Yo-Hinn Taken from Today's :http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110501-0000351/Hard-training,-good-shoes