Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday met Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and had meaningful conversations on elevating and expanding the bilateral cooperation in school education, vocational education and research, between the two nations. The discussions focused on strengthening the partnership through three key pillars—‘Talent, Resource and Market.’

The minister emphasised that India views Singapore as a trusted knowledge partner, particularly in advancing deep tech, startups, and innovation ecosystems. He also highlighted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong have outlined a robust framework to elevate India-Singapore cooperation into a comprehensive partnership, including collaboration in critical and emerging sectors.

Earlier in the day, Pradhan met his Singapore counterpart, Chan Chun Sing, to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation across various areas of education. He emphasised the significance of the National Education Policy 2020 in facilitating the internationalisation of India’s education system. The two ministers explored avenues for overseas internship programmes, allowing Indian students to gain practical experience in Singaporean companies.

To further strengthen cultural connect between students of both countries, the possibility of twinning of schools in India and Singapore was discussed. Joint Research collaboration in areas of mutual interest like deep tech, medicine, advance materials, etc was also discussed.They also deliberated on fostering academic and research collaboration through the twinning of schools and universities in both countries. Pradhan highlighted opportunities for collaboration between Singapore’s National Institute of Education and NCERT in areas such as curriculum development, pedagogy, and teacher capacity-building.

Extending an invitation to Minister Chan to visit India, Pradhan expressed his commitment to advancing shared goals and enhancing educational ties between the two nations.

The Union Education Minister also met with Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, to discuss deepening the India-Singapore Knowledge Partnership. Both leaders emphasised the importance of working closely to elevate bilateral cooperation in education and expand collaborative efforts to achieve shared objectives.

Pradhan also visited the National University of Singapore and met with its president, Prof. Tan Eng Chye. They discussed leveraging complementary strengths to build knowledge bridges, strengthen academic and research collaborations, and deepen engagements between NUS and top Indian higher education institutions across all academic fronts.

Pradhan emphasised that NUS and Indian HEIs can collaborate to create value in areas such as deep start-ups, healthcare, advanced materials, digitalisation, and sustainability, among others. The Minister also highlighted that a key focus area of NEP 2020 is enhancing access to quality higher education for the youth of India and the internationalisation of its education system.

On the first day of his visit on October 20, Pradhan had engaged with the members of the Indian diaspora in Singapore. He highlighted NEP 2020’s role in upskilling India’s youth and the enormous scale and magnitude of education in India.