NOVA Could Close at Least 200 School Branches
Mainichi and Japan Today have reported that NOVA Group, the largest English school chain in Japan, is facing major financial difficulties and will probably have to close at least 100-200 of its branches:
Slated to be shut down are school branches located mainly in Tokyo and major cities in Osaka, Aichi and Hyogo prefectures where rents are high. The company has already picked about 50 school branches, including Nova Kids schools, for the shutdown.
The total number of closures will likely be well over 200 because some landlords are threatening evictions due to defaults on rent payments and Nova itself is offering to vacate some of the properties it has been using, some of the sources say.
The 200 include school branches which were shut down in late August and so far this month, as well as those slated for shutdown by the end of next month, the sources added.
Meanwhile, Nova is believed to be running short of funds because it is falling behind in employee salary payments, according to the sources.
One employee said experienced workers with families have already been leaving the company in droves. “As far as I know, rumors about the downsizing seem to be true,” she said.
A sign that NOVA is working its way towards long term survival, or is it just a taste of the disaster to come for the school chain and its employees?
| Related Posts: |
|
Nova Update: Teachers Still Not Paid, Many Stop Working Former Nova Teachers Become Neo-Nova Teachers Will NOVA Rise as G Education? |
Full RSS Feed
How many schools do they actually operate in Japan?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
The articles linked say the number is around 900.
That means they opened 300 schools in the last three years.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
i suppose i should be wary of all the gossip about Nova and believe me i am…but i am also looking on the optimistic side of things and hoping all the moaners will bugger off and leave plenty of overtime for me to do in the near future. I love Japan why would i want to see the company i work for collapse?sometimes i think the bandwagon is too easy for people to jump on….especially those who dont work for said company.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Does anyone know which branches in Osaka City are closing? That’s where I used to teach.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is not much more than rumor but it keeps popping up in so many places I have to believe there is some truth to it.
200 Teachers Recieve Eviction Notices In Kyushu
Apparently the rent has not been paid on some or all Nova teachers apartments in Kyushu and other areas of Japan. Teachers are being asked to move into other accomodations with very little notice or asked to find their own accomodations. Some rental money is being offered to be returned but the communication is very poor.
Here is one case:
[url=http://www.letsjapan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254781&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=4170]Nova Evictions[/url]
[quote]not sure what info you want lex but here’s whats happened to me so far –
accomodation didn’t even dignify me with a personal call about the notice. I found out from my roomate after he got an mmc memo (it was my day off from that labor camp), so I then immediately called them and was offered a few things –
1) septembers rent value will be refunded on oct 15ths paycheque (if i even see it)
2) they were nice enough to waive the 30 days notice to move out – i wonder why…because there’s only 10 days !!!!
3) POSSIBLE relocation to a new nova appartment
later that evening as i got more angry and new call went through, i was flat out denied access to payroll to ask where my money has gone, and then transfered to accomodations where someone who doesn’t speak english kept putting me on hold and telling me all sorts of things i had been offered over and over, and then somone else came on and told me that i should get a cheap apartment because japanese people do it. I explained that i shouldn’t have to live in a rathole because they screwed the pooch. He said well blah blah blah…and i asked for confirmation in writing that my rent money will be refunded and he went on about something i couldn’t understand..and i hung up.[/quote]
Rate this comment:
0 
0