The 3rd Education Working Group Meeting (EdWG) under India’s G20 Presidency commenced in Bhubaneswar today. Day 1 of the meeting witnessed the inaugural address by Union Minister of State for Education, Shri Subhas Sarkar.
Shri K. Sanjay Murthy, Secretary Higher Education, Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary School Education and Literacy and Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary Skill, Development and Entrepreneurship and senior officials of the Ministries attended the meeting. 60+ Delegates from 27 countries including G20 members, invited and International Organisations including United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) were present.
Shri Subhas Sarkar highlighted that Education Working Group under the India’s presidency is working collectively to underline the common realities and reiterate common commitments for joint action to improve the reach, quality and outcomes of education.
Shri Sarkar noted that today’s world is witnessing megatrends such as Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0 and Web 3.0, which will significantly impact the workplace. To adapt to this emerging work ecosystem, he said, our youth need to be equipped with necessary skills and attitudes.
He called upon everyone to collaborate to develop sustainable solutions to our shared problems. He asked to harness our collective expertise and build robust research and innovation ecosystems, to achieve societal benefits.
The meeting was preceded by a seminar on the topic ‘Building Capacities, Promoting Life-Long Learning in the context of Future of Work’ held at Institute of Material and Mineral Technology (CSIR-IMMT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Skill, Development and Entrepreneurship. Along with the seminar a week-long multimedia exhibition was also organised on the sidelines. The exhibition was inaugurated by Union Minister of education, skill development & entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan.
Leading up to the meeting a series of precursor events which included seminars, panel discussion and workshops on the theme of life-long learning and future of work were organised. The seminar saw participation from academia, industry, the government and Singapore High Commission. The discussions were on the topics ‘Deep Tech with a focus on advanced technology in future of work’, ‘Transforming Logistics – focus on coastal areas economies’ and ‘Skill Architecture & Governance Models – Learnings from Singapore Model’.
To involve the youth, a chain of month-long ‘Jan Bhagidari’ events were organised starting from ‘Utakal Dibasa’ or ‘Odisha Day’ on April 1, 2023 were organised in Odisha. These events are also an attempt to create awareness around the ongoing 3rd EdWG meeting in Bhubaneswar. Under the initiative various competitions and activities involving the youth such as, awareness rallies, marathon, essay writing, rangoli making, yoga sessions, quiz, debate, elocution, Mock G20 and many more were organised across the 30 districts of the state. The campaign witnessed around 1 lakh plus participation from 35 institutions across Odisha.