G20 education working group three-day meeting concludes in Amritsar

A three-day G20 meeting on education concluded here on Friday with the delegates dwelling on creating a tech-enabled learning environment to promote equal opportunities, maintain quality standards, and encourage global collaboration across all levels of education.

More than 55 delegates from the G20 countries, guest countries, and invited organisations such as UNICEF participated in the event which began on Wednesday.

During his closing remarks on the event's last day, India chair and secretary, higher education, K Sanjay Murthy highlighted the importance of the community's involvement in student education and the urgency of greater collaboration and partnership.

The G20 platform must create new relations beyond bilateral and think multilaterally, he said.

Murthy said, India aims to take the documentation of this Education Working Group meeting to all higher education institutions to ensure that best practices are implemented at the administrative level and the final compendium brings a great impact on all institutions.

Speaking to the media later, Murthy said, We have high hopes for faster collaboration across higher education institutions to create workable solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals."

Alternate India Chair, Sanjay Kumar, secretary, school education said, Every participating nation in the discussion forum is on the same page for leveraging technology and joyful approach for achieving foundational learning and numeracy."

The secretaries thanked the Punjab government for their hospitality and support in organising the education working group meeting in Amritsar.

The delegates also visited the Golden Temple as part of the excursion component of the education working group meetings on Friday.

An exhibition was also set up to showcase handicrafts and cultural elements of Punjab at the meeting venue for the delegates.

The three-day event included a seminar and a multimedia exhibition at the historic Khalsa College on March 15.

The seminar highlighted India's opportunity to establish itself as a leader in research and innovation globally. It also discussed the role of various stakeholders in promoting research on emerging innovations, and their impact on education systems, and society.

The exhibition witnessed a footfall of 2,500 students from 10 schools in and around Amritsar on March 16-17.

The outcomes of the four EdWG meetings will be essential to draft the final declaration document to be shared at the concluding ministerial meeting.