Indonesia gets chance to send thousands of nurses to Japan

"We have prepared the competence and certification standards for the two professions," deputy head of the National Profession Certification Agency (BNSP) Sumarna F Abdurahman said on Friday.

He said BNSP would cooperate with the Japan Vocational Development Agency (Javada).

Some 500 care-givers were now undergoing training at Civest, the training centre of the ministry for manpower and transmigration, in Bekasi, West Java.

If they pass the training, they would be sent to Japan for a six-month language course, he added.

He said the duties of the nurses and caregivers in Japan would be different from those in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the two latter countries, they would also function as housemaids but in Japan they would merely accompany old people and therefore language mastery was a must.