G20 India’s 3rd Education Working Group meeting concluded on 28 April 2023, in Bhubaneswar with a commitment to ensure the betterment of learners with respect to skilling, upskilling and reskilling. The 3-day seminar and meeting held from 26th-28th April 2023 had discussions focussed around priority area 3 ‘Building Capacities, promoting life-long learning in context of future of work’ in the seminar.
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.
The three-day event commenced with a seminar around the topic of the future of work in collaboration with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It was divided into three sessions of panel discussions. The themes of the panels were ‘Building an agile response to the needs of labour markets and institutional capacity building in the context future of work: enabling high quality technical and vocational education’, ‘Creating pathways between higher and vocational education’ and ‘Equipping children with a range of future skills to set them on course of lifelong learning’. Delegates shared their policies and initiatives in Vocational Education and Training. They also acknowledged the importance and the constant need to upskill and re-skill in order to keep up with the evolving world. They also discussed challenges that their countries are facing with respect to the future of work.
On the sidelines of the 3rd EdWG meeting and seminar, included a multimedia exhibition on the same topic. Key participants in the exhibition were NCERT, MEITY, IKS (Indian Knowledge System), TRIFED, Singapore, UNICEF, Meta, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIM Sambalpur, NIT Rourkela, CSIR-IMMT, Auroville Foundation and many other from Industry, Academia, Government Agencies, Multilateral Agencies, Startups, etc. along with Experience Zone on Future of Work and large technology exhibits. The exhibition was open to local institutions, students, academicians and researchers from 23rd-25th and 27th -28th April, 2023.
The meeting concluded with an excursion component. Delegates were taken to Konark Sun Temple, followed by cultural performances in Puri. Delegates were given patachitra paintings as a memorable token for their visit to Bhubaneswar.
