Category: Eikaiwa

Nova Corp.’s students have been left in the lurch–and out of pocket–after the company announced it would temporarily close its schools. Steps must be taken to ensure these students can continue taking English-conversation lessons. Nova, the nation’s largest English-language school chain, dismissed cofounder Nozomu Sahashi on Friday and filed for protection from creditors with the…

Thousands of foreign teachers have been made jobless and face expulsion from Japan after the country’s biggest chain of English language schools folded and sought protection from creditors. Nova Corp said on Friday that it has filed for court protection from creditors amid efforts to turn its business around after being punished by authorities for…

Hundreds of New Zealand teachers face unemployment and eviction from their homes after the collapse of one of Japan’s biggest English language schools. The Nova group has been in trouble for months and has now closed its doors and called in the receivers with debts of over 500 million dollars. Nova’s 6,000 staff had already…

Nova employees and union officials lashed out at the language school chain’s move Friday to seek court protection from creditors, and called on the government to ensure its nearly 7,000 workers, many of whom have not been paid for months, receive their wages. The announcement caught most employees by surprise, said Jamie Scarrabelotti, a Nova…

Thrown suddenly out of work, language teachers with Nova Corp. in Tokyo were quick to react to their employer’s move Friday to file for court protection from creditors. “This was in the back of my mind,” Genevieve Latimer, who was visiting a government-run job center in Shinjuku Ward, said of Nova’s decision. “I haven’t even…

Though forewarned of their language school’s financial woes, students Friday reacted to the news of Nova Corp.’s bankruptcy with shock and disappointment. Some said they were satisfied with their lessons but unhappy and upset with management. Ryotaro Oba, 47, of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, a Nova student for more than a decade, learned of Nova’s financial…

660 Canadians among 4,000 out of work as 900-school Nova Group chain goes bankrupt An estimated 4,000 foreign teachers, including about 660 from Canada, are without jobs after Japan’s largest school chain, Nova Group, closed its 900 schools and declared bankruptcy yesterday. Many teachers are owed $4,000 in salary for September and October, said Catherine…

The Australian and British Embassies in Japan have begun providing assistance to their citizens working for Nova, Japan’s largest chain of private foreign language schools, after it filed for court protection from creditors. The two embassies have set up sections on their Web sites to provide some support for teachers who reportedly have not been…

Students and instructors voiced anger Friday over Nova Corp.’s decision the same day to temporarily close all of its schools across the country. Students are concerned about what will happen to their lessons and the fees they paid up front, and employees have criticized deposed President Nozomu Sahashi, saying he was “not qualified to run…

Failed English conversation school chain NOVA Corp. could be back in operation within a month with the support of companies willing to help it rebuild, its receivers said. Court-appointed receivers for NOVA, Toshiaki Higashibata and Noriaki Takahashi, said they plan to start looking for backers for the failed chain, with current candidates including retail giants…