BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said there is immense scope for India and Singapore to work together to achieve mutual priorities, particularly towards preparing a future-ready workforce.
Addressing a workshop on ‘Future of Work: Skill Architecture and Governance Model of India and Singapore’ ahead of the G20 Education Working Group meeting here, Pradhan said skill development and knowledge are an important part of India and Singapore’s strategic partnership.
“If we work together, there are many opportunities for both nations, especially in preparing the workforce of the future. This joint workshop will focus on leveraging Singapore’s expertise and knowledge. Bridging the barriers in the skill sector will play an important role in changing the technology landscape,” he said.
The minister said that the new National Education Policy has placed equal importance on education and skilling. It has paved the way for the integration of schooling and skilling, horizontal and vertical mobility through the National Credit Framework and redefining India’s skills ecosystem.
He said three issues have been discussed between India and Singapore as the way forward development of new curricula for skills, frameworks for skill building in vocational education and higher education, compulsory apprenticeship and frameworks for lifelong skilling. Emphasis is placed on skill mapping in view of future work patterns.
He said that the skilling subject developed by Singapore will be introduced in the school curriculum and efforts are on to integrate students of engineering and polytechnic colleges run by AICTE into the skill pool.
High Commissioner of Singapore to India Siman Wong said Singapore is the first country to establish linkages with UPI through their fast payment system PayNow. A few days ago Indian rocket PSLV placed two Singapore satellites into orbit.
“There is a huge opportunity to extend this cooperation to the space of skilling. Singapore follows a skilling philosophy of leaving no one behind, training for decent jobs and building a confident nation because a decent job increases the confidence of the individuals and their families,” Wong said.