Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 1 (ANI): Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan here on Wednesday said that aim of India's G20 Presidency is to strive for an "equitable growth for all".

"The G20 Education Working Group provides member countries with an opportunity to underline common priorities, reiterate common commitments, and evolve common action for improving the reach, quality and outcomes of education. As envisioned by our Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the aim of India's G20 Presidency is to strive for just and equitable growth for all, in a sustainable, holistic, responsible, and inclusive manner," the minister said while talking to ANI.

He also said that the objective has been pronounced by the theme of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future', and the Indian values of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

"The aim of the Education Working Group under India's presidency is therefore to work collectively and evolve solutions that will help all countries and societies to strengthen their education systems and attain the targets under the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4," he added.

He also welcomed the G20 delegates at the first G20 Education Working Group Meeting here and said he looks forward to the ideas and proposed initiatives to ensure quality education for all.

Notably, the first meeting of the G20 Education Working Group (G20 EWG) 2023 in Chennai will continue till tomorrow.

The Union Minister further underlined that Education is the key driver for development and is a critical enabler for the people's empowerment, which needs to keep pace with the changes driving the world in contemporary times.

"In recent years, we have seen a rapid transformation in the way people live, work and interact with each other. In such times we need education systems that can equip all our young people, especially the more vulnerable ones, with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required in the 21st century so that they can live productive and responsible lives," Murugan said.

He further said that every country has evolved its own strategies for fulfilling this need and India launched its National Education Policy in 2020, under which many initiatives have been rolled out for making education more inclusive, accessible, affordable, relevant to emerging needs and of high quality.

"Some of these [initiatives rolled out under NEP 2020] include addressing issues of early childhood care and education, preventing school drop out, introducing innovative pedagogies, focus on teachers training, making higher education multi-disciplinary and flexible, with focus on quality research, mainstreaming skill education, providing opportunities for lifelong learning, extensive use of technology to improve the teaching-learning process etc," he said.

Later, Murugan exuded confidence that all the G20 member countries would share their "rich initiatives" and "enlightening experiences" with each other, which in turn will enrich all the member countries to define future strategies for the betterment of education and strengthen the hands for collective action in this regard.

"India attaches great importance to collaboration between G20 members in education and other fields. I take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment in this regard. We have been given an opportunity to outline our priorities and draw the roadmap for a common robust future. Let us all work together to build this common future, keeping education as the focal point for addressing our common challenges," Murugan added.

Earlier, the G20 delegates arrived at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IITM) Research Park in Chennai on Tuesday to participate in the seminar on 'Role of Digital Technology in Education.'India assumed the G20 Presidency from Indonesia on December 1, 2022, and will convene the G20 Leaders' Summit for the first time in the country this year. As India takes over the Presidency, the working group aims to work together with G20 countries to bridge gaps in quality education and skilling. (ANI)