Vietnam's incense village turns into Instagram hotspot

21 Sept 03:16 Key points summarised by AI

Quang Phu Cau, an incense village in northern Vietnam, has transformed into a popular Instagram destination, drawing tourists eager to photograph its vibrant, traditionally crafted incense sticks.
Villagers, who historically prepare scarlet and magenta sticks for Lunar New Year (Tet), now create multi-colored arrangements, including a giant Vietnamese map, specifically for social media photo opportunities.
Tourists pay a small fee to take pictures, providing a significant new income stream for local families and boosting the village's economy alongside their ancestral craft.
Despite the busy production season for Tet, villagers actively accommodate visitors, even assisting them in finding optimal photo angles while ensuring the drying sticks remain undisturbed.

Examining Thailand’s four-part education revolution

Yesterday 14:22 Key points summarised by AI

Thailand's Education Ministry is implementing a four-pronged strategy to address its students' below-average performance in PISA 2025 and tackle significant educational inequality.
The plan prioritizes closing performance gaps by increasing funding for small and low-income schools, overhauling the curriculum to foster critical thinking, and adopting a data-driven management system to reduce teacher workload.
Key initiatives include enhancing school safety, combating cyberbullying, and expanding mental health support through peer-to-peer networks, recognizing the severe impact of distress on academic performance.
An education expert advises verifying if PISA improvements stem from structural changes, advocating for a revived STEM curriculum with practical 'learn by doing' methods, and urging bureaucratic reform to link teacher evaluations to student development.