Puri (Odisha), INDIA. In an exemplary initiative to make the Indian professionals add more potential to their career prospects, and also to help them earn more and look for opportunities in Japan or Japanese companies, Kunna Dash – a native of Puri, Odisha has succeeded in bringing a well known Japanese language academy to his hometown.
Having migrated to Japan about 30 years back, Dash has picked up a bunch of 15 youths from diversified backgrounds to train them on Japanese language and culture at newly set up SOCHI Japanese Language School in Puri. The school offers the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) level course, has come up with a tag line of “Study in Japan and Work in Japan”.
Launched with the technical support of Japan’s well known So Chi International Academy, which already has its training centers in Indonesia and Vietnam, the Sochi Japanese Language School was inaugurated by, Hiroyasu Hirayama the chairman of So Chi International Academy on April 15.
In Japan, this academy is already imparting training to students from Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Korea, Slovakia, and six other countries.
The Japanese language experts Yuki Ishi and Sujan Poudel will be stationed at the Puri center for some time to impart training to students in Japanee language and culture.
According to Dash, the So Chi International Academy with its schools in Indonesia and Vietnam has entered India for the first time. “We have plans to set up similar schools in Banaras, Delhi, and Kolkatta in time to come,” said Dash.
While explaining the reason behind setting up the school in India, Dash said that the poor youth could not afford to spend Rs. 6 lacs for learning the Japanese language at institutions like So Chi International Academy, which has students from over 12 countries but none from India.
“In India, we would charge the students Rs. 5000 per month for the 4-month course, which comes to Rs. 60,000 per annum. The youths with 20 years of age or more and those with skills sets in any of the 80 different fields like nursing/care, hospitality, construction, agriculture, IT, auto engineering etc can avail the facility. Sochi also specializes in job placements because of its strong connections in the industry in Japan,” Dash added.
The first batch of Sochi Japanese Language School has learners ranging from higher secondary standard students to IT engineers, taxation experts, soft skills & corporate trainers, plastic molding technicians and painters. They are aged from 25 to 55 years.
Abdul Hakim Khan (55 years), a soft skills & corporate trainers from Cuttak said that by learning Japanese language and culture, he would be able to extend his skill sets and also take the soft skill training to Japan or to the Japanese people.
Another trainee, Bipin Kumar Das (32 years) – an IT engineer said he joined the course to add value to his skills and improve his employability index for Japanese companies. Balram Bohra (26 years) who works as a plastic molding technician left his job to join the Japanese language course. Ravinarayan Sahoo (34 years) who is a painter said that since his profession was seasonal and earning was erratic but by learning the Japanese language he would look forward to working in Japan for better perks.
According to Kunna Dash since the special skills visa did not include India, the youths opting to work in Japan with the help of sending agencies categorized in the list of 23 organizations of NSDC, could not go to Japan to work there.
“But, we will become sending agencies for our students and send them to work in Japan after successful completion of their training. We will also help them in test preparation classes for JLPT free of cost,” Dash added.
