Job Discussion Forums

[voodoochild]

Has anyone got any stories regarding Interac and the JICA thing?.... i heard some pretty negative stuff about Interacs dealings there but just wondering if anyone else has advice....?

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[wangtesol]

So lets start at the beginning. JICA stands for Japan International Cooperation Agency. It is similar to the Peace Corps in the US, or Volunteer Overseas in the UK or CUSO in Canada. JICA sends Japanese volunteers on aid programs around the world, and they receive some language training before they go.

A few years ago, JICA decided to privatize parts of its services, including language training for volunteers who would go overseas.

The JICA training centre is located in Nagano. Interac receives about 1,000,000 yen a month from the Japanese government to pay for a language teacher, and of course, Interac only pays the teacher around 250,000 yen.

In the move to outsource their teachers to Interac, JICA was looking to get rid of their current teachers. One of these teachers was D. from Sri Lanka. She had taught Sinhalese for JICA for over a decade and had even written one of the few Sinhalese-Japanese dictionaries ever published.

The last I heard was that D. refused to accept the dismissal and the case had gone to court.

Anyhow, can you imagine the Peace Corps or VSO using outsourced instructors? You would think that managers in JICA would be caring and supportive of foreigners, but instead they are just as calous as any old corporation.

[Seeker of truth]

Here's a link to someone's Interac experience from a few years ago. JICA is also mentioned:

http://www.letsjapan.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=10

[yamanote senbei]