Shoman Foundation Organizes Exhibition for Little Innovators in Jordan

Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO at the exhibition.
Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO at the exhibition.
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Shoman Foundation Organizes Exhibition for Little Innovators in Jordan

Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO at the exhibition.
Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO at the exhibition.

The Department of Education and Science at Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation organized the Young Innovators Exhibition Thursday to enhance thinking skills among children and adolescents.

In its third edition, the exhibition, introduced a distinguished presentation of scientific projects made by children, who attended scientific and practical workshops including experiments and projects aimed at developing their research and analytical capacities.

The exhibition was organized at the Islamic Educational College, under the patronage of Jordan's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Muthanna Al-Gharaybeh, who expressed pride in the innovative projects, and highlighted the great role given by the Shoman Foundation to the scientific and cultural fields.

The age of participants ranged between 10 and 13. They developed 11 scientific projects.

Speaking at the event, Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation CEO Valentina Qussisiya said: "We are meeting today for the third consecutive year to celebrate the Young Innovators Lab program aiming at boosting the children's critical thinking and growing an innovative and creative generation."

"The Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, established 40 years ago by the Arab Bank, is fully aware of the importance of cultivating culture and science in children and adults. Therefore, the Foundation selected 41 out of 500 applicants to undergo a critical thinking test."

The CEO pointed out that the Foundation has been focusing on programs and activities targeting science and education, as well as reading and knowledge, indicating that the Foundation has been keen for three years, to focus on training children practically, mentally and intellectually.

"Innovation here means focusing on many skills that are being transformed through education from feeding learning to learning critical thinking skills that help a child analyze, think, and implement projects in innovative ways," she said.

According to Qussisiya, these projects will undoubtedly address many problems.

The acquisition of critical thinking and learning in light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, along with turning ideas into practical products, will provide Jordan with many jobs and opportunities in the near future, she said.

The 11 participating groups presented their projects to the audience, talked about the problems they encountered, how they overcame them, and the alternative solutions they chose to get the final form of the project.



Tokyo Police Care for Lost Umbrellas, Keys, Flying Squirrels

This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
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Tokyo Police Care for Lost Umbrellas, Keys, Flying Squirrels

This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

Lost your umbrella, keys, or perhaps a flying squirrel? In Tokyo, the police are almost certainly taking meticulous care of it.

In Japan, lost items are rarely disconnected from their owners for long, even in a mega city like Tokyo -- population 14 million.

"Foreign visitors are often surprised to get their things back," said Hiroshi Fujii, a 67-year-old tour guide at Tokyo's vast police lost-and-found center.

"But in Japan, there's always an expectation that we will."

It's a "national trait" to report items found in public places in Japan, he told AFP. "We pass down this custom of reporting things we picked up, from parents to children."

Around 80 staff at the police center in Tokyo's central Iidabashi district ensure items are well organized using a database system, its director Harumi Shoji told AFP.

Everything is tagged and sorted to hasten a return to its rightful owner.

ID cards and driving licenses are most frequently lost, Shoji said.

- Flying squirrels, iguanas -

But dogs, cats and even flying squirrels and iguanas have been dropped off at police stations, where officers look after them "with great sensitivity" -- consulting books, online articles and vets for advice.

More than four million items were handed in to Tokyo Metropolitan Police last year, with about 70 percent of valuables such as wallets, phones and important documents successfully reunited with their owners.

"Even if it's just a key, we enter details such as the mascot keychain it's attached to," Shoji said in a room filled with belongings, including a large Cookie Monster stuffed toy.

Over the course of one afternoon, dozens of people came to collect or search for their lost property at the center, which receives items left with train station staff or at small local police stations across Tokyo if they are not claimed within two weeks.

If no one turns up at the police facility within three months, the unwanted item is sold or discarded.

The number of lost items handled by the center is increasing as Japan welcomes a record influx of tourists post-pandemic, and as gadgets become smaller, Shoji said.

Wireless earphones and hand-held fans are an increasingly frequent sight at the lost-and-found center, which has been operating since the 1950s.

But a whopping 200 square meters is dedicated to lost umbrellas -- 300,000 of which were brought in last year, with only 3,700 of them returned, Shoji said.

"We have a designated floor for umbrellas... during the rainy season, there are so many umbrellas that the umbrella trolley is overflowing and we have to store them in two tiers."