The Virtual Symposium Civil 20 Education and Digital Transformation Working Group (EDT WG) was organised on February 19, 2023. Civil 20 EDT Coordinator, Dr.Prema Nedungadi, Director Amrita CREATE, Chairperson, School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amma’s vision on education and quoted Amma’s saying “Education is very important element in our society as education should spread light within and outside instil awareness and strengthen the deep bond between student and his nation.”
Dr.Joost Monks, Executive Director, Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative, Switzerland and (EDT International Coordinator), briefed C20 working group on the subtheme skill development is to identify the gap and find innovative potential to contribute to the G20.The objective is to ensure access to quality, online skill training, enhance technologies for marginalised, rural communities, disabilities, women’s, refugees and migrants, along with sustenance for futuristic skill development to facilitate cooperation and mobility among G20 countries to address exactly the key issues and inputs to formulate policy recommendation and the barriers in implementation.
The skill development panel consisted of eminent speakers from both national and international: Prof. Michel Carton, Shri Raj Nehru, Dr. Peliwe Lolwana , Neena Pahuja and Ms. Preeti Arora.The moderator of the panel Dr.Joost Monks
Prof.Michel Carton is an Emeritus Professor at Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva emphasized on 3 & 4 Sustainable development goals to support and benefit the underprivileged and their needs, and addressed the financial gap in achieving this SDG. He insisted the skill development model along with higher education should impart education to promote employability skills, skills for work and life, technical and vocational education and training to develop ability, knowledge, values and attitude that will contribute to building a peaceful healthy sustainable world to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Shri Raj Nehru is the Vice Chancellor of Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, shared his views on scaling and development of skilled education. He strongly believed in upskilling reskilling and collaboration with the Industry and Academia in designing integrated programs to impart future skills.He shared his insights on gig economy the future of workforce and imparting entrepreneurial skills and encouraging start-ups will benefit people, from urban, rural, and tribal areas and will significantly impact the GDP.
Dr. Peliwe Lolwana, CSO Board Member, Conservation South Africa elaborated on the area of work conservation of South Africa as the country is facing challenges such as energy shortage, high unemployment,rising cost and growing trust deficit between the people and Government. She expressed her concern on deciding the infrastructure for digitizing the content, data management and wi-fi access is not easy and hence the digital divide is huge across the country and her desire is to educate the population, provide right information and build the future digital environment.
Neena Pahuja is an Executive member at the National Council of Vocational Education and Training is recognised for her contribution in her expertise area of connecting with nationwide policies and new research areas of India’s initiative. She emphasized the NCERT is trying to embed skilling as part of education and as a part of NEP framework. She also mentioned the other policies including blended learning, education for skilling using simulators and use of the emerging technology along with metaverse will be incorporated along with the guidelines and assessment criteria in the NEP along with internationalization of skills.
Preeti Arora the Vice President of Digital Skilling Solutions & Innovations, Education Partnerships, Trainer & Assessor Development National Skill Development Corporation her excellence lies in line with National Education Policy 2020, as she established models of collaboration with the Education ecosystem, and enablement of a strong trainer ecosystem in the country. she emphasized skill development stands for inclusivity, affordability, relevance and quality of education along with the lifelong learning aspects and the brighter side is to empower and strengthen teachers with the technology and upskill as they remain as the torch bearers of the world of education and insisted on imparting entrepreneurial skills at the school level.
Dr. Joost Monks the moderator captured the key points and he extended his thought as the increasing digital divide is exacerbating discrimination, and also agreed upon the inequalities that limit the access to digital technology and necessary skills to use it negatively impacts participation in this economy. It is time to think of public private partnerships and start-ups in terms of employment and emphasizing the development around these areas resonates with the point that digital is just a tool.
