The Ministry of Education is all set to host the 4th and the final Education Working Group (EDWG) meeting in Pune, Maharashtra from 19th to 21nd June, 2023 under the theme of “Ensuring Foundation Literacy and Numeracy, especially in the context of blended learning” and culminate with the Education Ministerial meeting on 22nd June 2023, according to an official release.
Like the previous meetings, a seminar will be preceding the main EdWG Meeting and it will be based on the priority area of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. At the moment, countries such as Spain, Australia, Indonesia, United States of America (USA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, China and United Kingdom (UK) have all expressed their interest in the topic of the seminar and will be participating as panellists, Sanjay Murthy, secretary, Higher Education, announced.
As a precursor to the G20 EdWG meeting, the Department of Higher Education is organising a seminar in collaboration with ELSEVIER on 16th June at IISER, Pune. The seminar will be held on the theme ‘Accessible Science: Fostering collaboration’. This event will convene stakeholders across the scientific community to discuss best practices for accessible Science, how accessible Science can be applied across individual nations with differing local capacities, and ways to utilise science practices to support global progress, he added.
The Education Working Group meeting will conclude with the Ministerial Meeting, which will witness the participation of Education Ministers from G20 members and invited countries. Outcome documents such as a compendium of best practices amongst nations in the priority areas, a report and the ministerial declaration will be presented at the Ministerial Meeting. As of date 14 ministers have confirmed participation in the ministerial meeting from the following nations: UK, Italy, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Singapore, Oman, Mauritius, Japan, Bangladesh, Egypt, UAE and Netherlands, he further informed.
A simultaneous event is scheduled to take place on June 17th at Savitribai Phule University, Pune. This event will mark the inauguration of an exhibition that aims to highlight the cutting-edge approaches being implemented in the domains of education, FLN, digital initiatives, research, and skill development. The exhibition will specifically showcase the remarkable endeavours undertaken by various states, union territories, and other organisations in the field of education. Approximately 100 exhibitors have confirmed their participation in this event, Sanjay Kumar, secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, said.
Various activities have begun at different levels to engage people from all walks of life in the lead up to the fourth Education Working Group Meeting of G20. These activities include events, workshops, exhibitions, seminars, and conferences. The programme has been highly successful, with over 2.33 crore participants, including 1.57 crore students, 25.46 lakh teachers, and 51.10 lakh community members. This level of engagement demonstrates remarkable interest and involvement from the masses, he added.
In addition to this, Ministry of Education has launched a pledge titled ‘Shiksha Sankalp’ on mygov.in portal to encourage students, teachers and the general public to pledge to pursue education and lifelong learning to contribute towards the progress of the nation and to keep on developing skills and knowledge to become a responsible citizen of India. More than 1.5lakh people have taken the pledge so far in less than a week’s time, the release mentioned.