The Centre is deliberating on ways to formalise skilling in the school education system, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday, asserting the UGC, AICTE, NCERT and NCVET must come together to create a framework for mapping future skills.

The minister also said there was a need to de-link degrees from competency and envision a future where competency would prevail.

Pradhan made the comments in an interaction with reporters here ahead of the 3rd G20 Education Working Group Meeting.

“Deliberations are going on about how to formalise skilling in our school education system. Today, we discussed with the delegates from Singapore the way forward for a comprehensive and substantive partnership towards skilling,” he said.

The minister noted that the deliberations going on at the G20 forum will aid the implementation of new National Education Policy by understanding and adopting best practices and global models.

“The University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council of technical Education (AICTE), National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Council of Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) must come together to create a framework for mapping future skills,” he said.

“The NEP has paved the way for integration of schooling and skilling, horizontal & vertical mobility through National Credit Framework (NCrF) and redefining India’s skills ecosystem,” he added.

The minister noted that future of jobs is going to be very different from what it is right now and “we need to map the skills to make students job-ready”.

Foundation literacy and numeracy, tech-enabled learning, future of work and research collaborations are among the priority areas for deliberations during the third G20 Education Working Group meeting scheduled from April 27 to 29.

A conference on deep technology and transforming logistics for coastal economies, a workshop on the future of work and skill architecture, a seminar on building capacities for lifelong learning and an exhibition on future of work are part of the events which are being held as a precursor to the meeting.

The first meeting of the G20 Education Working Group was held in Chennai earlier this year, followed by the second at Amritsar last month. There would be three supplementary meetings of the education group before it arrives at a consensus in June.

Earlier in the day, Pradhan attended a joint India-Singapore workshop on “Skill Architecture and Governance Models of India and Singapore”.

Indian stakeholders and delegates from its G-20 counterpart Singapore discussed best practices in skills and education adopted in the two countries and the way forward for preparing a future ready workforce.

“The joint engagement between India and Singapore under the ‘G20 Future Of Work’ is a great beginning for developing a seamless architecture for skilling. We have to build a new skilling model that will not only fulfil our mutual priorities but also inspire emerging economies,” Pradhan said.

Source: PTI

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