In 1954, Japanese high school maths teacher Toru Kumon came up with a method of teaching his son mathematics that had extraordinary results. Soon his neighbours were begging him to share his secret - and now the theories of the Kumon Method are taught to 4.1million students around the world.
The Kumon Method, which focuses on individualised learning to suit the needs of each student, has now been applied to subjects other than maths and, in Hong Kong, programmes are also offered in English reading, English as a foreign language and Chinese reading.
There are 126 Kumon centres in Hong Kong with more than 40,000 students. Kinichiro Yoshida, president of Kumon China and managing director of Kumon Hong Kong, plans to expand this operation to 300 centres with 70,000 students. He is confident that there is a market in Hong Kong for the service.
'We have analysed the Hong Kong market. Our main targets are kindergarten and primary students, and we already know how many of those students are here and how many there will be in the future because of [government] statistics,' he said, adding that Hong Kong parents were also very receptive to the idea of additional learning for their children.
'I believe parents in Hong Kong and in Asian countries in general want to give a better education to their children,' Mr Yoshida said. As part of the company's expansion, Kumon China was set up last year. Working out of the same office as the Hong Kong branch, Kumon China is the regional headquarters, supporting Hong Kong and the company's expansion into the mainland. The educator is looking for 20 staff to fill openings created by this expansion.
Four fresh graduates, with a strong background in data analysis or marketing, are needed for the centre development team. This team is responsible for recruiting like-minded franchisees to set up Kumon centres in the region, and the job involves a great deal of research to identify suitable areas, establish the average household income, the make-up of the resident population and the local school network. The centre development team will also liaise with the franchisees to obtain the school licence and to carry out training for its instructors.