Major English school operator Geos Corp. filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday at the Tokyo District Court with liabilities of about 7.5 billion yen, company officials said.
Tokyo-based Geos operated 329 schools that had approximately 36,800 students. Nagoya-based G.Communication Group is set to take over 230 of the schools with some 29,000 students, while 99 other schools will be closed down.
All Geos schools will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, and schools taken over by G.Communications will be reopened from Friday.
Geos officials said students who have already paid tuition fees will be able to continue to learn at nearby Geos schools without paying any extra charges.
Students who live in areas where there is no Geos school can attend lessons at NOVA schools, also operated by G.Communications, if they pay extra charges. However, they cannot get back tuition they have already paid.
Geos was founded in 1986. It operated English conversation schools across the country while offering overseas study and homestay programs.
However, its subsidiary in Australia closed all its schools in February after getting into financial trouble. The number of students had since decreased sharply because of a loss of confidence and intensifying competition in the industry.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100421p2a00m0na023000c.html
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