Japan Science & Technology agency invites Indian edu institutions to implement joint projects

TOKYO: The government of Japan through its national research and development wing Japan Science & Technology (JST) Agency is opening up gates for Indian school, college, and university students allowing them to exchange their knowledge with their Japanese counterparts by making short-term visits to Japan. This is a 100% Japanese government-funded program for Indian students aged 12 to 40 years.

Recently top educationists including chairmen, principals and deans of 15 colleges of South Indian states Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Pondicherry traveled for the first time on an exposure visit to the JST Agency office based in Tokyo. They also went to colleges, schools, and universities based in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, and interacted with the students, faculty, and management there.

In order to promote science and technology and provide solutions to social issues, JST comprehensively implements diverse projects in collaboration with universities, research institutions, and industries in Japan and overseas. Titled Indo Japan Educational Tour to Japan was co-organized by the First World Community (FWC) and KCCS. The FWC led by Founder and Chairman Dr. CK Ashok Kumar is a networking NPO from Chennai. It also has its Osaka Chapter in Moriguchi, Osaka in September this year, and it is headed by Yumoto san.

An Indo-Japan bridge organization KCCS is led by the former Hitachi Global Director Karunanidhi Kasinathan who stepped out of the corporate world in 2019 considering the huge bridging opportunities in the education and employment sphere between India and Japan.

This delegation led jointly by FWC and KCCS visited the Indian embassy in Tokyo on the day 1 of its tour and met with Sibi George, Ambassador of India in Japan at his Tokyo office followed by their meetings at Sakura International School, Osaka International School, the Japanese government-aided school Shotoku Gakuen, Musashi University, Juntendo University, Kansai University, Aygaran Kinder Garden and Primary School. It was interesting and encouraging for the delegation members to discover that the NPOs connected with more than 200 Japanese schools were interested in collaborating with India.

The delegation members representing educational institutes with a cumulative strength of around two lakh students in studying in their institutions seemed upbeat while interacting with their Japanese counterparts during the visit to Japan.

Japan’s shrinking population Increasing aging society decreasing youth power are going to pose a lot of challenges to the government so Japan is in a crisis of hiring highly skilled and talented Indian intellectual youth in the future hence this platform is created as an opportunity channel for exposure and interest to be created.

Equally happy was the Japanese side including Osaka Mayor Moriguchi san and other government officials during their closer discussions on various matters including formation of sister cities and other opportunities in the field of education.

First World Community a networking NPO from Chennai is supported the event from India and the FWC Japan Osaka Chapter is established in Moriguchi, Osaka in September 2023 with Mr. Yumoto as the president of FWC Japan Osaka. Mr. CK Ashok Kumar Founder and Chairman of FWC participated in the inauguration at Osaka and led the delegation.

Japanese advisors like Kuboki san, Tomio Isogai san, and Yuji san played key roles in organizing the delegation visit to Japan.

Chairman & Secretary of Venkateswara Group from Bhavani Karuppannan, one of the Women Top Institutions in Coimbatore Krishnammal Group,  ACHARIYA Group of Pondy, Kevin Care Group of Institutions, PSNA Group of institutions from Dindugal, ABS Group from Chennai, Metamorphis from Chennai, Telangana School Association representatives formed the part of the delegation visit.