Ahead of the third meeting of the Education Working Group of G20 summit scheduled to be held in Odisha capital from April 27 to 29, the Ministry of Education has planned a series of activities in the state from ‘Utkal Divas’.

This was stated by Neeta Prasad and Sonal Mishra, joint secretaries, Ministry of Education on Tuesday.

They said the month-long events are being rolled out in the state of Odisha from April 1 which is also celebrated as ‘Utkal Dibasa’ or ‘Odisha Day’.

All the 30 districts of Odisha would celebrate India’s G20 Presidency by organizing ‘Jan Bhagidari’ events, such as, quiz contests, essay competitions, declamation contests, mock G20, Yuva samvad and others.

Students from schools, ITIs, polytechnics, colleges including engineering colleges, NSTI and beneficiaries of Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) would be participating in these events. These programmes and activities would be youth-led and women-led. Engagement Groups of G20, such as Start up 20, B20, etc. would provide support to organise these events across the state.

“The third meeting of the Education Working Group is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from April 27-29. Delegates from G20 countries would be attending these meetings,” Prasad said, adding that the programmes under the Education Working Group, selection of themes and ensuring reach to the youth of the country are being planned.

In case of Odisha, where the theme is ‘Future of Work’, there should be widespread deliberations and effective outreach in every district on the emerging skilling requirements and the need for continuous skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling as relevant to the district.

The Education Working Group meetings to be held here will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Education Subhash Sarkar on April 27. Thereafter, there would be official level deliberations on the four identified priority areas Foundational literacy and numeracy, tech enabled learning, future of work and research collaboration, she informed.

The delegates will visit Konark on the evening of April 28. Apart from participating in the deliberations, the delegates would get to savour the best of Odisha’s Art and Culture, handloom, handicrafts and cuisines through especially curated performances and menus as also exhibits at the venues.

Stating that the precursor events to the G20 Education Working Group Meetings would be held from April 23-25, the official informed that these events are being organised in collaboration with various institutions, such as, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIM Sambalpur, Central University, NIT, IMMT Bhubaneswar, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Deloitte, CII and USIBC are industry connects for the various events.

The week long deliberations would focus on strengthening international collaboration and support in germinating a framework for future of work. Deliberations would be held on various topics, such as, deep tech with a focus on advanced technology in future of work, such as, AI, automation, machine learning and others; transforming logistics with a special thrust on coastal economies and their infrastructure and skill architecture and governance models.

Students, academia and industry connect would be a core element of all the events, the official said, adding that accordingly, young entrepreneurs and startups would be invited to the state to share their experiences.

Month long parallel brainstorming sessions covering 35 institutions in Odisha would be organizing deliberations on future of work in the fields relevant to all districts of Odisha.

An exhibition on future of work is scheduled to be held from April 23-29, in Bhubaneswar to showcase the need for acquiring new skills and knowledge as a result of fast evolving world of work. There would be 75+ exhibitors from G20 countries, industry, government, tech companies, skill development partners.

As Odisha has a significant tribal population, special focus would also be on tribes of Odisha and their products would be showcased during various events and programmes.

Inputs from PTI