Japan opens careworker course to Filipino students

MANILA, Philippines – Half a year after the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) was ratified by the Philippine Senate, the supposed “benefits” of the pact to the country has started to materialize with the door being opened to Filipino college graduates for study to be “careworkers” in Japan.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), represented by its chairman, Emmanuel Angeles, signed a memorandum of agreement with officials of the Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services (JICWELS) recently, paving the entry of Filipinos wanting to study a kaigofukushishi or a careworker course in Japan.

Under the agreement, it was learned that CHED will be the one to identify Filipino candidates for the “careworker” course study.

Under the program, CHED will find Filipino graduates of at least a four-year degree course who may be admitted to a public or private training facility or a Kaigofukushishi school to study the careworker course in Japan for a period of not more than four years.

For this year, CHED will reportedly nominate 50 “candidates”.

CHED, it was learned, will be the only authorized Philippine agency to select and nominate applicants to Japanese training facilities.

JICWELS, said to be a public corporation connected with Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, will be the only authorized Japanese agency to refer to CHED duly-accredited training facilities in Japan that are permitted to accept Filipino candidates to study the Kaigofukushishi course.

A Filipino who successfully completes the Kaigofukushishi course would be allowed to work in Japan as a certified careworker without undergoing a certification exam.

CHED boasted that the Philippines was the only country granted by Japan under an economic partnership agreement to allow its nationals to study a careworker course in Japan and permitted to work as a certified careworker without taking certification exams.

The program was being pursued under the JPEPA chapter on Movement of Natural Persons Article 110.1(f). — Rainier Allan Ronda, Philippine Star