The Union Education Ministry on Saturday, 24 May 2026, flagged off a cohort of 56 school students from India to participate in the Sakura Science Programme 2026 in Japan, in a ceremony held at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) campus in New Delhi. The students, accompanied by four supervisors, will spend one week in Japan from 24 to 30 May, exploring the country's advanced science and technology ecosystem.

Who Is Going and Where They Are From

The group comprises 24 boys and 32 girls drawn from government schools across 15 states and Union Territories, including Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Goa, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. All participants are recipients of scholarships under the National Means cum Merit Scholarship (NMMS) scheme of the Union government.

India will be joined at the programme by participants from Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, making it a multi-nation science exchange initiative.

The Flag-Off Ceremony

The send-off event at NCERT was attended by senior officials including Archana Sharma Awasthi, Additional Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL); Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of NCERT; and A. Srija, Economic Advisor at DoSEL. The ceremony underscored the government's commitment to providing merit-based students from public schools access to global scientific exposure.

About the Sakura Science Programme

The Sakura Science Programme, formally known as the Japan Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science, has been implemented by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) since 2014. India joined the programme in April 2016. According to official figures, a cumulative total of 674 students and 96 supervisors from India have visited Japan under the programme to date, with the most recent prior batch having travelled in August 2025.

Under the programme's framework, selected students are invited to Japan for one week to experience its science and technology infrastructure alongside its cultural heritage — an approach aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises holistic, experiential, and cross-disciplinary learning.

Broader Significance for Indian Education

This cohort represents a deliberate effort to widen access: all 56 students hail from government schools and hold NMMS scholarships, meaning the programme specifically targets academically meritorious students from non-privileged backgrounds. The NEP 2020's emphasis on experiential learning and global exposure makes international science exchanges like this a policy priority, not merely a ceremonial gesture. Notably, with 32 girls outnumbering boys in the group, the batch also reflects a push toward gender parity in STEM participation at the school level.

As the 2026 cohort departs, the programme's cumulative reach — now covering students from across India's geographic and socioeconomic spectrum — positions it as one of the more substantive bilateral science diplomacy initiatives between India and Japan at the school level.