G20 edu ministers' meet in Pune on June 22, foundation literacy in focus

The fourth and final G20 Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting scheduled from June 19 to 21 in Pune will be held under the theme 'Ensuring Foundation Literacy and Numeracy', especially in the context of blended learning, officials said on Monday.

The EdWG event, which will be hosted by the Ministry of Education, will be followed by the meeting of education ministers from G20 countries on June 22, they said.

"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," Higher Education Secretary Sanjay Murthy told reporters here.

 

Murthy said that like the previous meetings, a seminar will be preceding the EdWG and it will be based on the priority area of 'Foundational Literacy and Numeracy'.

"At the moment, countries such as Spain, Australia, Indonesia, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and the UK have all expressed their interest in the topic of the seminar and will be participating as panellists. As a precursor to the G20 EdWG meeting, the Department of Higher Education is organising a seminar at IISER, Pune on June 16.

"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.

In the run-up to the main event, a two-day National Conference on Foundation Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), "Creating the Base for Lifelong Learning", will be organised from June 17-18 at Savitribai Phule University, Pune.

"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. 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 blended mode," said School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar.

"The experts from various fields have been invited to share their experiences and learning with the audience to identify the areas of joint initiatives, cross learning and the challenges in the implementation. Representatives from the Education Departments of all states and UTs in India, Knowledge partners of Government of India (UNESCO & UNICEF) and civil society agencies will be participating in this event," he added.

On the sidelines of the meeting, an exhibition will be inaugurated on June 17 which will showcase innovative practices being adopted in education and FLN, digital initiatives, research and skill development, in particular by the states and UTs, besides other agencies in the field of education.

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