Expecting ‘major investment’ from Japan firms, Punjab govt to train its teachers in Japanese

According to a letter issued by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), teachers have to report in two slots of 16 and 19 each at the venue.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Rahul Tewari, mission director, Punjab Skill Development Mission, said that since the Punjab government is expecting some major investment by Japanese companies, it has decided to “create a pool of master trainers who would know Japanese language” and could train others in the future. Hence, the school education, technical education and higher education departments of the state were asked to recommend names of teachers who would undergo 6 months’ training in Japanese and train others after clearing N4 and N5 levels of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test.

Tewari said, “The government of Punjab is in touch with several Japanese companies and the Embassy of Japan. It is expected that they will be investing heavily under ‘Invest Punjab’…”

Asked who will be teaching Japanese to the teachers, Tewari said, “A teacher has been arranged from Punjab Technical University (PTU), who is a qualified trainer in Japanese.”

On criteria on the basis of which teachers have been selected for the training in Japanese, Tewari said, “The school education, higher education and technical education departments have prepared lists of their teachers who showed interest in learning the language and sent it to us…” He added that the training will be free of cost for the teachers, but they also won’t be paid for it either.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, classes will be held online after registrations and orientation on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the list of the 35 teachers from government schools of Punjab, who have shown interest in learning Japanese language, depicts a very interesting picture. Among the 35 teachers whose names have been shortlisted, eight are maths teachers, eleven are English language teachers, five are computer teachers and ten are social science teachers.

Sanjeev Kumar Bhardwaj, a maths teacher from Hoshiarpur, who was among the shortlisted, said, “I applied to learn Japanese as I always wanted to learn a new language and add to my skills. I am very excited for this course.”

Jagtar Singh, director, SCERT Punjab, said, “We were asked to send a list of teachers interested in learning Japanese by the Punjab Skill Development Mission. We issued a letter asking teachers if they were interested and those who showed interest were selected for the training.”

In 2018, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had announced that Mandarin will be offered as an optional subject in government schools of Punjab. This project however failed to materialise. Despite the SCERT making all out efforts to arrange instructors who could teach Mandarin to its teachers, the project failed to take off practically.