The Ministry of Education is all set to host the 4^th and the final Education Working Group (EDWG) meeting in Pune, Maharashtra from 19^th to 21^nd June, 2023 under the theme of “Ensuring Foundation Literacy and Numeracy, especially in the context of blended learning” and culminate with the Education Ministerial meeting on 22^nd June 2023.

Secretary, Higher Education, Shri K. Sanjay Murthy; Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Shri Sanjay Kumar and Secretary, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari today interacted with the media at the curtain raiser press conference and briefed on the upcoming G20 4th Education Working Group meeting, Ministerial Meeting, Jan Bhagidari events and precursor events to be held in Pune.

Shri Sanjay Murthy informed that like the previous meetings, a seminar will be preceding the main EdWG Meeting and it will be based on the priority area of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. He further informed that at the moment, countries such as Spain, Australia, Indonesia, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and UK have all expressed their interest in the topic of the seminar and will be participating as panellists.   He explained that as a precursor to the G20 EdWG meeting, the Department of Higher Education is organising a seminar in collaboration with ELSEVIER on 16th June at IISER, Pune. 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 utilize science practices to support global progress, he added.

Shri Murthy also informed that the Education Working Group meeting will conclude with the Ministerial Meeting, which will witness the participation of Education Ministers from G20 members and invited countries. 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.

Shri Sanjay Kumar, informed about the various precursor events being organised by the Department of School Education and Literacy.  As a run-up to the main event, a 2-day National Conference on Foundation Literacy and Numeracy, ‘Creating the Base for Lifelong Learning’ will be organised from 17^th to 18^th June 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. He also informed that the objective of the conference is to reflect on two important themes - teaching learning approaches and pedagogy for FLN in the context of Multilingualism & capacity building and training of teachers in blended mode. 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 & the challenges in the implementation. Representatives from the Education Departments of all States & UTs in India, Knowledge partners of Government of India (UNESCO & UNICEF) and civil society agencies will be participating in this event, he added.

Shri Kumar further informed that, concurrently, an exhibition will be inaugurated on 17^th June at Savitribai Phule University, Pune. It will showcase innovative practices being adopted in education and FLN, Digital initiatives, Research & Skill Development, in particular by the States, UTs and other agencies in the field of education Around 100 exhibitors will be participating in the exhibition. He ended by saying that lifelong learning begins when Foundational Literacy ends.

He also informed that to involve people from all strata of life, numerous activities, including Janbhagidari events, workshop, exhibitions, seminars and conferences have already been started from 1^stJune, 2023 at State, District, Block, Panchayat and school level to involve people from all strata of life in the run up to the fourth Education Working Group Meeting of G20.The entire program is turning out to be a huge success, and has already witnessed a total participation of more than 2.33 crore including 1.57 crore students, 25.46 lakh teachers and 51.10 lakh people from community till Day 12, which is not only unprecedented but also reflects a high level of interest and engagement among masses.

Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari informed about the success of Jan Bhagidari in Odisha and said a similar campaign is being held based on a set of pre-identified 35 themes such as financial literacy in lead up to the 4^th EdWG meeting.  He informed that MSDE has been able to mobilise 2300 skill based institutions such as ITIs, JSS, PMKK, Polytechnic, Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship and some schools, colleges and universities and have witnessed 10 lakhs plus participation in Jan Bhagidari activities ranging from webinars, workshops, skill quizzes to awareness programs, rallies from across the country. Shri Tiwari said that MSDE has been constantly working with the Ministry of Education towards the Education working group meetings.

In addition to this, Ministry of Education has launched a pledge titled ‘Shiksha Sankalp’ on mygov.in portal to encourage students, teachers and the general public to pledge to pursue education and lifelong learning to contribute towards the progress of the nation and to keep on developing skills and knowledge to become a responsible citizen of India. More than 1.5lakh people have taken the pledge so far in less than a week’s time.

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NB/AK