Jobs for nurses and skilled workers, building resilient schools, and internship programs are among those offered by the Japanese government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to the Philippines.

In a series of courtesy calls by two Japanese officials and a JICA representative on Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, the Japanese delegation expressed interests in strengthening the education and economic cooperations of both countries.

Minister for Health, Labour, and Welfare Katsunobu Kato revealed that 54.7 per cent of Filipino caregivers who took the examination for Japan last March passed — the highest mark recorded for Filipino examinees in the past 10 years.

Non-passers of caregivers’ examination, Kato said, can stay longer in Japan and will be given a chance to retake the exam.

Kato said they also need more Filipino nurses to work in Japan under the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA).

JICA Representative Sakamoto Takema also shared to the Vice President the programs and projects that Japan wishes to extend to the country. One of which is a training for the Philippine education sector development this year.

“This year we succeeded to convince Tokyo to give more courses and seats for your DepEd (Department of Education) officials and teachers.” Takema said.

The Vice President is also the Secretary of Education.

JICA also said it is “keen to promote PPP” to encourage Japanese partners to come to the Philippines “to address the development challenges and exploring future investments.”

PPP stands for Public-Private Partnership.

Takema also said teaching elementary schoolchildren disaster education in partnership with the local government units, recruitment of JICA volunteers to teach Filipino children, and to attend a technical education training program scheduled in August or September.

Duterte, in another meeting with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Women Empowerment, Mori Masako, presented an update on the education trend of “women learners outperforming male learners.”

“This is not really a good thing but in terms of women empowerment, it shows that our female learners are doing well,” Duterte said.

The Japanese delegation also relayed to the Vice President that they also need skilled workers for construction and for industrial waste treatment.

OVP MEDIA