This essay contest is for junior high and high school students, who are the future leaders of the world, to deepen their understanding of the current state of the world and its connection to Japan, and to think about what they can do to help. This year’s essay contest, held under the theme “We Live on Planet Earth – For the Future,” received 17,439 entries from junior high school students and 20,153 entries from high school students, for a total of 37,592 essays. Many of the essays featured how a small insight in their daily lives led them to think and act for the future of the Earth.
Connecting everyday opportunities to international cooperation
In his address to the award winners, JICA Vice President Junichi Yamada shared his own experience as a student and said that the first step toward international cooperation is to respect each other’s culture and to connect and understand each other. He also conveyed JICA’s vision of “connecting the world with trust,” and sent a message to the awardees, saying, “I hope that you will cherish the ‘connections’ you have made here today and use them as a source of inspiration for the rest of your lives.
Naoki Ogi, the head of the final jury for the junior high school division, characterized this year’s junior high school student entries as “large in scale! He said, “The works of this year’s junior high school students were characterized by their “large scale! He commented that many of the entries were aware of the big issues in daily life and looked at trivial triggers from a sharp point of view.
Ms. Tomoko Hoshino, the head of the final jury in the high school student category, commented that many of the essays were honestly written about their struggles and worries, and showed a human touch that was powerful. She said, “Reading the essays, I feel that the youth of Japan are in good hands. I hope that they will suffer and fail, and grow up step by step.” He expressed his hopes and encouragement for the winners and the young people.
We have friends all over the world.
Rino Takashima (junior high school student, Keisen Jogakuen Junior High School) and Hajime Kanetou (sophomore, Matsuyamato Senior High School, Ehime Prefecture), winners of the JICA President’s Award in the junior high school and high school categories, respectively, gave their acceptance speech on behalf of the winners.
A Nepalese student’s comment, “School lunches are essential for the development of my country,” led Mr. Takashima to learn that in developing countries, including Nepal, school lunches are linked to solving social issues such as malnutrition and education, as well as to national development. In order to connect her interest in social issues and actions to solve them to the future, she wrote about her practical application of her learning and her realization that “there are many systems around us that support the resolution of social issues that we can start right away. At the award ceremony, she introduced her own school lunch support activities in developing countries and expressed her determination to “continue learning from interactions with people around the world and contribute to the creation of mechanisms to enrich our own society.
Growing up with the ocean in his hometown on Yuge Island in the Seto Inland Sea, Mr. Kanetou learned that ocean plastic is a global problem. He learned that ocean plastic is a global problem. He also participated in a beach cleanup activity to protect the sea in his hometown by calling on the local community, Happy Learning, a program he devised and implemented himself based on his belief that solving environmental problems requires cooperation across national borders, and a forest conservation training program in Malaysia. In her essay, she wrote about her experience of participating in the training program and what she learned through the program. At the award ceremony, she shared her dream of “solving international issues such as the environment, poverty, and conflict through cross-border cooperation,” and concluded by saying, “Believe in the future, believe in your friends, and let’s take a step forward together.
Roundtable Discussions and Workshops
After the awards ceremony, a roundtable discussion was held with the award winners and a panel of judges from the world’s forefront of international understanding, as well as a workshop for international understanding.
During the roundtable discussion, the award recipients asked a wide variety of questions and expressed their doubts and concerns that have arisen in the course of their activities and daily lives. In response to the awardees’ concerns that their activities might have a negative impact, Mr. Yoneyama, the World Bank’s Special Representative in Japan, spoke from his own experience about the importance of thinking together with others about what they need. In response to the various concerns and questions that arose during their school life, Mr. Shinichi Nakazato, President of the National Council for International Education Research, who also serves as a principal of a high school in Tokyo, encouraged the awardees to “actively involve the people around you and explore until the difficulties turn into fun.
In the workshop by former Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, the participants worked in groups to consider what are the most serious issues facing the world, based on the case of the Indigenous Indigenas in Ecuador. While all of the issues were important, how to prioritize and solve them was discussed and presented with the group members as they worried about how to prioritize and solve the issues. Many groups cited war, conflict, and medical care as the most serious issues, based on the idea that “nothing can be done without life. Many also said that educational inequality is a serious issue because lack of education causes various other issues and continues the negative cycle.
Conclusion
Congratulations again to the winners of the JICA Essay Contest 2023. And thank you to all who participated. The Grand Prize and Excellence Award winners will receive an overseas training program in the summer as an extra prize. We hope that they will absorb a lot of things there.
The theme for next year’s (2024) essay contest is “What We Can Do for the Future Earth.
© Source JICA
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