Chief Secretary Suman Raj Aryal has certified the decision of the Council of Ministers to repeal the 'Directive on Sending Nepali Technical Interns to Japan-2066 (JITCO)', which was implemented to send Nepali workers as technical interns to Japan.

Along with this, the Nepal JICA Alumni Association (JANA) has also revoked the provision for trainee workers going to Japan to take a language test. 

The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security had submitted to the Council of Ministers a proposal to revoke the JITCO directive based on the ‘Good Governance, Management and Operation Act, 2064’, stating that it was not necessary. The Council of Ministers meeting on 11 Poush had decided to revoke the JITCO.

The then Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal had decided to review the directives, procedures and standards based on the Good Governance, Management and Operation Act, which had caused delays, inconvenience and cost in service delivery. 

The Chief Secretary has certified the revocation of the JITCO directive, said Hemraj Aryal, spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. ‘The decision of the Council of Ministers to revoke the JITCO directive has been certified by the Chief Secretary,’ he said, ‘A letter is being prepared to be sent to the Ministry of Labor.’ 

Labor Ministry spokesperson Pitambar Ghimire said that no letter has been received from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to revoke the JITCO directive as of Wednesday. JAN had increased pressure on the Chief Secretary not to certify the language test after the system for trainee workers going to Japan was also being revoked.

Senior government employees who returned after studying in Japan under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) program are also affiliated with JAN. Some senior government officials, including JAN officials, were pressuring the Chief Secretary to reverse the decision of the Council of Ministers. 

According to the JITCO directive, there is a provision that the list of workers selected from manpower companies should go to JAN to take a language test on the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Employment. For that, JAN charges a fee of three thousand rupees per worker. The fee is determined by JAN itself. The Department of Foreign Employment has a provision to issue a work permit after passing the test from JAN. 

The Japanese government, however, does not necessarily seek the language test certificate taken from JAN. Japan is issuing visas for trainee workers after selecting workers who meet the employer's criteria. However, even after obtaining a Japanese visa, the Department of Foreign Employment does not issue a work permit because a certificate of passing the language test has not been issued. 

An example of this is Ramesh Gurung, 25, of Syangja. He has repeatedly failed the Japanese language and culture test. 'I took the test four times. I took the test on 30th Shrawan. I failed. Then I took another test on 19th Bhadra.

I failed again. I also failed the tests on 5th and 30th Asho. This is too much. Are we going to study to become experts? We are going to learn general work,' he said, 'In the meantime, my visa expired. I was not able to fly to Japan even though I had a visa.' 

In a statement issued by Ministry of Labor spokesperson Pitambar Ghimire, the program JITCO, which is run by an agreement between Nepal and Japan, has been converted into the 'Technical Intern Trainee Program' since 2017. 'Currently, trainee workers are going through the same program and there is no obstacle to sending workers because the instructions mentioned in it are not necessary/necessary,' the statement states.

According to the Ministry of Labor, after the JITCO directive is revoked, there will be further facilitation for Nepali workers who want to go to Japan. According to this directive, trainee workers must be between 18 and 40 years of age. They must have experience working in industrial establishments, industrial businesses, factories, agriculture, cooperatives, community organizations, hotels, tourism businesses, service and commodity manufacturing businesses registered with the Ministry of Industry.