The third Education Working Group meeting under G20 began in Bhubaneswar, Odisha with a seminar on ‘Building Capacities for Lifelong Learning in the context of Future of Work’ at CSIR-IMMT. The meeting is a continuation of the previous two working group meetings held in Chennai and Amritsar earlier, aimed at discussing and implementing innovative ideas and policies to globally transform the education sector. Over 60 delegates from G20 member countries, invitee countries and International Organisation countries are participating in the 3 day meeting.
On the first day of the 3rdEdWG meeting, Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education, delivered a special address on the importance of education in moulding the nation’s future. He emphasised the value of skill education and informed about the many skilling initiatives offered by the Government in order to create a future-ready military. He emphasised the need for platforms such as the G20 in exchanging expertise, experiences, and best practices that will be useful in collaborative reforms in the education sector.
Speaking on the occasion, Sarkar said that guided by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the Indian Government is rethinking the ways deployed to develop, assess, and recognize skills, primarily through the integration of Academic and Vocational Education.
Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, Chairperson of the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), also spoke at the seminar. The presentation by Kalsi included inputs from G20 countries and international organisations. In addition, K. Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Ministry of Education, and Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, National Educational Technological Forum (NETF), both spoke at the seminar by setting the context and sharing insights on Building a digital ecosystem for lifelong learning, respectively.
The seminar included three panel discussions, with participation from Brazil, Spain, UAE, Singapore, Russia, South Africa, Mauritius, OECD, UNICEF, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Delegates also attended the G20 Future of Work Exhibition which featured active representation from industry, academia, government agencies, multilateral agencies, startups, and other organisations, The exhibits are from Meta, Hexagon, Infosys, MEITY, UNICEF, Indian Knowledge Systems Division, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIM Sambalpur, TRIFED, and many more stalls,