The fall has been attributed to failure in sending trainee workers as per demand from Japanese firms, complex paperwork, lower promotional or service fee and lack of marketing from the government’s side. With listed agencies dropping out, the government did not issue licenses to new agencies this year. 

According to the guidelines to send technical interns to Japan under the JITCO programme, the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) was scheduled to call for applications from interested manpower firms in January.

 

Purna Chandra Bhattarai, director general of the DoFE, said that it had become necessary to cut down the number of agencies as they were unable to send trainee workers as per demand from Japanese firms. “Many agencies took the JITCO programme to be just another means to send workers abroad like to the Gulf countries, which is totally wrong,” he added.

 

In the first six months of the current fiscal year, 10 authorised agencies sent 97 trainee workers to Japan, according to the DoFE. Similarly, 23 agencies have received requests for 424 trainees in the review period.

The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies said that listed agencies did not receive sufficient demand besides being unable to send the number requested due to paperwork hassles. “My company has not been able to obtain even a single order in the last two years,” said Som Lal Bataju, president of the association. Bataju added that there were more agencies than required amid low demand and the “complicated system” of the JITCO programme. 

 

A total of 63 agencies did not renew their registration because they found it too difficult to stay in the JITCO programme. According to the DoFE, agencies failing to renew their permit will be removed from the list and an updated roll will be sent to JITCO very soon. Meanwhile, a government team is scheduled to visit Japan to market Nepali trainees amid complaints of lack of promotion by Nepal. “The delegation will take along a documentary film to be produced by the Foreign Employment Promotion Board to advertise Nepal’s potential to supply trainee workers under the JITCO programme,” said a Labour Ministry official.