Opening remarks by Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan at the Education Ministers’ Session of the 2nd Voice of Global South Summit (November 17, 2023)
Good afternoon, Excellencies from Republic of Albania, Republic of Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Georgia, Iran, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Republic of Malawi, Malaysia, Republic of Union of Myanmar, Republic of Palau, Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Zimbabwe.
Warm greetings from India, Namaste
It gives me immense pleasure to warmly welcome you all as part of the second Voice of Global South Summit. The first Voice of Global South Summit earlier this year was a crucial platform where we sought the perspective of the Global South and various issues, particularly education and skilling.
Excellencies, under the visionary leadership of Honorable Prime Minister Modi, India has championed the cause of the Global South and advocated for shared prosperity and growth as one family. During G20 presidency, we made significant efforts to strengthen the Voice of Global South, urging nations to unite for humanity's one future. Welcoming the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 or the G20 Leaders' Summit was a historic moment highlighting India's commitment to the Global South.
The New Delhi Leaders' Declaration of the G20 Summit recognizes the importance of investing in human capital development. At the G20 Education Ministers' Meeting, India laid the discussion on collaborative efforts to develop a resilient, equitable, inclusive and sustainable education and skilling ecosystem, a priority shared with the Global South. India is set to host the virtual G20 Summit shortly under its presidency. In this context, we seek your views to shape the global discourse on making the human resource future ready.
Excellencies
Sustainable and inclusive development remains a formidable challenge, particularly for Global South countries. No country can address the problem alone. We must act on shared aspirations and devise common strategies built on the twin pillars of education and skill development. India's experience can serve as an example in this regard. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is implementing the aspirational National Education Policy 2020, which has brought transformative reforms in our educational ecosystem. Built on five foundational pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability, NEP 2020 aims to create an educational system that is rooted in Indian ethos as well as aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It aspires to develop our youth as global citizens with values of humanity and compassion. NEP 2020 is a philosophical document which can act as a template for emerging economies towards developing comprehensive strategies and agile policy for human resource development.
Excellencies
More than 50% of India's population is below 30 years of age. Our demographic dividend is our strength. Focusing on seamless integration between schooling and skilling is a priority under NEP 2020 to ensure India's youth become a driving force in shaping the future. India's efforts in promoting digital public infrastructure are globally recognized. India's digital payment framework, UPI, has already surpassed 10 billion transactions a month. Building along the same line, NEP 2020 emphasizes on the creation of digital public infrastructure in education to democratize access to knowledge. Using digital technology, we enable multimodal delivery of education, create a digital repository of learning materials, facilitate teachers' capacity building and improve governance in our education system. NEP 2020 has revolutionized our credit framework, enabling seamless movement across schools, skills and higher education.
We have also created a Skill India digital portal which now links the workforce to potential employers. NEP 2020 strongly emphasizes on gender equality in education. We are working towards greater enrollment, participation and leadership of women and girls across all spectrum of knowledge and innovation. NEP 2020 has catalyzed transformation in our education and skill ecosystem and we are eager to share our experience with partner countries.
Excellencies
We live in an era of a rapidly evolving workplace driven by disruptive technologies and innovations. Under the Skill India mission, we aim to build a future-ready workforce by providing well-rounded education with futuristic skills to create industry-ready professionals. Prime Minister Modi at the G20 summit emphasized that having a large, skilled, young talent pool is crucial to sustainable global growth. Global skill mapping has now become a need of the hour and we seek to collaborate with countries in the Global South to map global skill gaps to ensure secure mobility of skilled workforce.
Excellencies
I am pleased to inform that we have revamped our study in India portal to ease the admission and visa process for foreign students. Our premier higher education institutions are now going global and two premier Indian institutions of technology, IITs, are establishing offshore campuses abroad, IIT Delhi in UAE and IIT Madras in Tanzania. Our universities are collaborating with top foreign universities through joint dual degree and twinning programmes bringing global standards at home. We are now welcoming foreign universities to open their campuses in India as well.
Excellencies
India is committed to its role as a reliable partner in leading innovation and human resource development as a part of the global family. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India will work together for everyone's growth with everyone's trust towards achieving the goal of making human resource future ready. With these words, I once again welcome you all and look forward to your valuable ideas and inputs.
Thank you, friends.