Assam govt incentivises Japanese language learning for youth

Guwahati: The Assam Government has decided to incentivise the Japanese language learning for the youths of Assam across the state and said that the state government will give a scholarship of Rs. 1.5 lakh to each student who pursues Japanese language.

The State Cabinet has approved to launch the scheme, namely Chief Minister’s Foreign Language Initiative for Global Human Talent (CM-FLIGHT), to provide structured foreign language training (eg, JLPT N2 level) and facilitate overseas employment of Assamese youth under various overseas visa programmes in other countries.

A pilot project will be implemented in the current financial year through the three agencies.

These agencies will impart Japanese language training and facilitate overseas employment of Assamese youth under Japan’s Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) visa programme. It will create significant employment opportunities for the local population by facilitating overseas placements. It will help in addressing the issue of unemployment and underemployment in Assam by providing access to the international job market.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the minimum salary for the youths in Japan is Rs. 2.5 lakh per month. "The average age of people in Japan is 48 years and in Assam the average age of people is 22 years. So, there is lots of scope for the youths from Assam to seek employment in Japan. Initially we are selecting 3000 youth for the Japanese language in the first phase," he said

The Assam government decided to take a loan of Rs. 2750 crore from the World Ban for the education sector in Assam.

Sarma said that the state’s share in the loan will be 10 percent while the Central government will return the 90 percent of the loan.

“We are going to use this loan amount for training the teachers on maths and science, training the head teachers at the school on management, to promote work on science and technology and to stop school dropouts in Assam,” he said

“A total of 400 schools in the state will get Rs. 3 crores to Rs. 5 crore each to develop their infrastructure and will spend about Rs. 25 lakh each for upgrading about 1733 Anganwadi Centres in the state,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that this will help revamp the education sector in Assam and will lead to a positive change.

The State Cabinet has approved the Collective Infrastructure Development of Apartment Buildings through Funding from MLALADS and United Fund to ensure government welfare schemes reach the residents of these apartments.

The Eligibility criteria for getting benefits under the Scheme include the minimum number of apartments in a building should be 16, the society must be registered under the Societies Registration Act, at least 80% of the apartments should be occupied.