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Japanese language was introduced in India with the starting of informal lessons at Viswa Bharati in 1905. Later on, a number of institutes started offering Japanese language from different parts of India.
During the summit meeting held in New Delhi in April 2005, Prime Ministers of Japan and India embarked upon an 8-point initiative to strengthen the bilateral relations. One of the important items of the 8-point initiative was to enhance the total number of Japanese learners in India to 30,000 by 2010.
The Japanese language promotion received big boost with the introduction of Japanese at the Secondary School level by the Central Board of Secondary Education from the academic year 2006-07. Over 25 schools started offering Japanese and 50 more schools are interested in introducing Japanese. The Japan Foundation, Japan International Cooperation Agency have been dispatching Language Experts to develop textbooks, conduct teacher training programs, etc.
The Japanese language courses offered at Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, University of Pune and Viswa Bharati have become quite popular with Indian students.
However, in order to achieve the target of 30,000 students by 2010, additional efforts are needed. |
