Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said that there is immense scope for both India and Singapore to work together towards achieving mutual priorities, particularly towards preparing a future-ready workforce.

While addressing a G20 workshop on “Skill Architecture and Governance Models of India and Singapore”, Pradhan said, “Skills development and knowledge collaboration are an important element of the Strategic Partnership. There is immense scope for both India and Singapore to work together to achieve mutual priorities, particularly towards preparing a future-ready workforce. We have to redefine and reimagine skilling”. “Skilling is lifelong. In the next quarter century, 25 per cent of the global working population will come from India. Until and unless we skill, re-skill and up-skill our young demography and prepare them for the Future of Work, we cannot fulfil global responsibilities,” he added.

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Union Minister Pradhan further mentioned that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership much emphasis has been laid on education and skilling.

“National Education Policy 2020 envisioned under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi 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.

Dharmendra Pradhan also mentioned that the focus of the joint workshop between India and Singapore will be on leveraging the expertise and knowledge of Singapore.

“The focus of the joint workshop between India and Singapore will be on leveraging the expertise and knowledge of Singapore and it will help facilitate mutual sharing of experiences for addressing obstacles to skilling and further transforming the Indian skills ecosystem,” he said.

On the occasion, Pradhan also stated that in the context of the ‘Future of Work’ India and Singapore are engaging holistically to deliberate upon multiple aspects of skilling and higher education.

“The discussions in the workshop facilitated learning around best practices and policy responses that enable the development of robust education and skilling ecosystems. One of the objectives of this workshop was to catalyze the exchange of knowledge between India and Singapore, two countries with a rich history of progressive reform in the sphere of education and skilling,” it said.

Simon Wong, High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore to India, and Melissa Khoo, Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills, Ministry of Education Singapore were part of the plenary session.

Union Higher Education Secretary K. Sanjay Murthy, Skill Development Secretary Atul Kumar Tiwari; School Education and Literacy Secretary Sanjay Kumar and senior officials of the Ministry of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship attended the workshop.