NEW DELHI: India and Singapore on Monday agreed to create opportunities for lifelong learning, building a future-ready workforce, and making knowledge and skill development a key pillar of strategic partnership.
This was discussed during the three-day visit of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Singapore. The minister also stressed on learning from the best practices of Singapore, collaborating and customising them to meet Indian needs.
Pradhan is on a three-day visit to Singapore and held meetings with various key ministers to strengthen existing ties and explore the possibility of widening the scope of bilateral engagement in education and skill development.
"Pradhan had a constructive meeting with Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance, Singapore, Lawrence Wong on strengthening the existing cooperation between India and Singapore with a focus on deepening engagements in skill development," according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Education
"During the meeting it was agreed to work together, aiming to create opportunities for lifelong learning, building a future-ready workforce, and making knowledge and skill development a key pillar of strategic partnership," the statement said.
Pradhan discussed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which specifically focuses on providing early exposure to vocational education in middle schools, ensuring market relevance of training as well as building the capacity of the institutions to provide technical and vocational education.
He further discussed the work towards integrating the skills qualifications framework with the higher education qualification framework and investing in developing short-term and long-term training programs to provide skilling, re-skilling and upskilling opportunities.
Pradhan also had an insightful discussion with Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong. They had "fruitful conversations on strengthening" skill development and vocational training linkages through all mechanisms for creating a seamless architecture for skilling and lifelong learning.
Building on the outcomes of the G20 Future of Work workshop in Bhubaneswar, they also discussed ways in which India can leverage the expertise and knowledge of Singapore for addressing common challenges and transforming the Indian skills ecosystem.
Both the ministers agreed to advance mutual priorities in skilling, create new opportunities for lifelong learning and collaborate together for the benefit of our countries as well as other emerging economies, the statement said.
He also visited Spectra Secondary School and interacted with students and teachers to know more about the teaching-learning environment, pedagogy, among other things.