G20 meets enabled sharing of best global practices in tech-enabled learning, skilling: Education MoS

Pune: The G20 Education Working Group meetings have helped share some of the best practices from across the globe in the areas of tech-enabled learning, skilling and strengthening research and promoting innovation, Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi said on Saturday.

Devi was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day national conference on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN). The conference -- "Teaching Learning Approaches and Pedagogy for FLN in Context of Multilingualism" -- is a precursor event for the fourth G20 Education Working Group (EWG) meeting.

"The EWG meetings have helped share some of the best practices from across the globe in the areas of tech-enabled learning, skilling and strengthening research and promoting innovation. The present Working Group meeting is an opportune moment to organise various events to create more awareness on India's G20 presidency as well as renew our resolve towards universal attainment of FLN skills," Devi said in her address.

She inaugurated the multimedia exhibition showcasing the best practices in education, FLN, digital initiatives, research and skill development.

Over 100 exhibitors, including Google, UNICEF, National Skill Development Corporation, National Council of Educational Research and Training, National Book Trust, Indian Knowledge Systems Division, startup initiatives and all state governments participated in the exhibition. It will be open to local institutions, students, academics and researchers till June 22.

The EWG event, being hosted by the Union Ministry of Education, will be followed by the meeting of education ministers from G20 countries on June 22.

Maharashtra's Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said, "Multilingualism is the key that empowers us to navigate through the growing diversity of our world and the need to teach our young generation the skills to choose the right path in this multilingual world while recognising their own diverse linguistic backgrounds, as talked about extensively in the National Education Policy, 2020".

School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said, "The conference will help identify and discuss the best practices states are adopting in creating an environment that facilitates foundational literacy and numeracy in young learners."

He further said, "The objective of the conference is to reflect on two important themes -- teaching-learning approaches and pedagogy for FLN in the context of multilingualism and capacity building and training of teachers in (a) blended mode."

The first meeting of the G20 Education Working Group was held in Chennai in January followed by one in Amritsar in March and a third in Bhubaneshwar in April.