Demand for Japanese lang teachers rising in India

New Delhi, Feb 6: The growing need for the Japanese language skills in the wake of expanding Indo-Japan economic relations has pushed up the demand for Japanese language teachers in India.

According to a survey by the Japanese Embassy here, India would have to train about 30,000 teachers to impart Japanese language skills to higher secondary level students by 2010.

The need has also been accentuated by the decision of the Central Board of Higher Secondary Education (CBSE) to adopt Japanese as a second language in schools.

For the increasing number of young Indian IT professionals going to Japan, sound knowledge of Japanese language is a must.

At present, the number of Indian teachers capable of imparting Japanese language skills is below 5000, a seminar organized here jointly by the Delhi Public School, Japan Foundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was told.

Representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Japanese Embassy attended the seminar.

JICA, the technical assistance agency of Japanese government, has begun providing Japanese language professors under its Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) programme to facilitate training of school level teachers in India.

The first of such Japanese professors sent by JICA, Ms. Kaori Hirose, has completed her ten-month assignment to train the Delhi Public School (DPS) teachers.

JICA has also made available two more language teachers from Japan to the Central Institute of English and Foreign Language (CIEFEL), Hyderabad, and the Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan, West Bengal.

The JOCV programme to India is being enlarged to bring in Japanese judo trainers and reproductive health professionals to work with Indian counterparts, pointed out Mr Keiji Kamiyaama, Counsellor at the Japanese Embassy and Mr Tomoyuki Fujii, JICA Resident Representative.

UNI