Japan calling: Indian Graduates who know English

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21: Good communication skills in English and a graduation degree of any stream is what it’ll take you to land a plum job in Japan.

For the first time, the Government of Japan is inviting graduates under 40 years of age to teach English in Japan. The promised salary: Rs 14.5 lakh per annum.

The teachers are meant to be representatives of India, who will foster ‘‘respect and understanding for India among Japanese students”. And, they’ll be posted in local government areas in Japan and not metropolitan cities. Says Counsellor, Embassy of Japan, Toshio Yamamoto, ‘‘We will post the Indian teachers in areas with local government— as opposed to metros— as we believe they will be more visible there among students and the community. We hope this programme will be taken forward by Japanese students coming to India for further studies.’’

Around 30 Indian teachers will be hired this year, and with the success of the programme, the number is expected to double. The Embassy will chiefly be working through Delhi, personally meeting the candidates after they clear the initial stages.

The programme will be carried out under the aegis of the Japanese Teaching and Exchange (JET) Programme. At present, posts of Assistant Language Teachers in elementary and secondary Schools (both Public and Private) or Coordinators for International Relations will be offered in selected local government offices in Japan.

‘‘Before this, we only invited English teachers from countries where English is the native language like the US and Canada. But we realised that the high level of English spoken by Indians can be useful for us and help both countries,’’ said Yamamoto.

There is another objective as well: economics. ‘‘In a recent survey done in Japan, India has emerged as the second most favoured business destination for the Japanese people following China. “At present, Indo-Japanese business is 1/30th of Japanese-Chinese business. We want to raise this figure to atleast one- third,’’ he adds.

The Japanese Government is also inviting some 50 students to study in Japan under the Monbusho scholarship. And from Japan too, Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers — including Judo teachers — will be come to teach here. Interestingly, CBSE has introduced the study of Japanese language in middle schools this year.

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