Nayan Raj and Saquib Hussain Siddiquee with principal Umesh Rai at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Gaya. Picture by Suman

Two students of Kendriya Vidyalaya-I (KV-I) would study technological advancement of Japan by staying there for nine days and visiting six cities.

During the nine-day stay, the duo — Nayan Raj of Class XII and Saquib Hussain Siddiquee of Class X — will also exchange social, cultural and heritage aspects of Bihar and Japan.

The two students has flown on Sunday night to Japan under the Jenesys 2.0 invitation programme for India hosted by the Union ministry of foreign affairs and Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and organised by Japan Overseas Cooperative Association (JOCA).

Nayan told The Telegraph: “I want to do BTech and then start my own business. Many people do business but without proper knowledge. The trip to Japan will help me understand why Japanese entrepreneurs are so successful and economically sound. My father Nand Kishore Prasad works in marketing sector of private company while mother Ranjana Sinha is a teacher at a private school. I will share with people of Japan the heritage around Bodhgaya and Gaya.”

Nayan and Saquib have been selected among 42 KVs in Patna zone and among 1,100 KVs across the country.

A total of 126 students, including 62 girls from the KVs, have been selected by the ministry for the cultural exchange programme, Jenesys.

A total of 1,743 students from the ASEAN countries are participating in the Jenesys programme that has started in March this year. The programme is continuation of the previous Jenesys 2007-12.

Among the 126 students from India, 22 are from Delhi-zone KVs followed by seven each from Lucknow and Calcutta, six from Jaipur, five each from Dehradun, Bhopal, Agra and Chandigarh, four each from Jammu, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon and Jabalpur, three each from Raipur, Ranchi, Mumbai and Hyderabad and two from Patna zone.

Nayan and Saquib left for New Delhi by Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and on Sunday they boarded the flight for Tokyo.

KV-I principal Umesh Rai said: “The students will travel through cities like Aichi, Nagano, Gunma, Tokyo and Chiba during which they would stay in the house of local residents and study their cultural, professional and personal habits. Arshad Imam, a teacher, has accompanied the students up to Delhi. On their return, another teacher BK Sharma would go to Delhi on November 12 to bring back the boys to Gaya. The school is bearing to and fro train fare, while the ministry will bear other expenses.”

The school got its first position in the region-level competition of 27th national youth parliament year 2014-15. Saquib and Nayan have secured second and fourth position, respectively, in the zone-level competition of national youth parliament organised in Bhopal this year.

Both the boys have also been selected to watch the activities of parliament in March or April next year. Saquib was winner of the national-level debate competition when he was in Class VII, Rai said.

Saquib’s father H.A. Siddiquee was a teacher of English at KV-I. After retirement, he is working on contract basis as a spoken English teacher. “He wants to be a doctor,” he said.

The programme is under the thematic area of social community and it focuses on introducing Japan’s advanced methods for social community development and exchange with people involved in the related activities.