PVPF 2024

India's G20 Presidency Provides an Opportunity to Showcase Edtech Leadership and Promote Inclusive Education

It also intended to collaborate with other G20 working groups to address cross-sector challenges such as employment, skill development, school-to-work transition, and so on.
on Apr 13, 2023

The G20 presidency gives India a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave its mark on the global education agenda.

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Benjamin Franklin's comment encapsulates education's essential importance in our lives. Global leaders and politicians recognized that international cooperation was required to attain an ideal society in which every kid has access to high-quality, affordable education.

The United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) were established in 2000 as part of the UN Millenium Declaration, and these objectives were revised further in 2015 as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

While MDG 2 intended to guarantee that all children, regardless of family income, enrolled in and completed primary school, SDG 4 focused on ensuring inclusive and equitable education and fostering lifelong learning opportunities for everyone. This is where the recent rise of education technology (edtech) comes into play.

Using various ICT tools and approaches in teaching methodology to make learning more interactive and engaging is called edtech. Another advantage of edtech is the ability to provide personalized learning, which implies that the teaching tempo and material may be adjusted to each student's learning path.

An example of such learning is that provided by edtech companies such as BYJU'S and others, where students may study at their speed using interactive visual aids on their learning app.

The G20 has also prioritized inclusive and equitable education. The G20 is one of the most significant groups of countries for international development cooperation, representing two-thirds of the world's population, 85% of global GDP, and 75% of worldwide commerce.

It gains additional relevance in terms of education and edtech since it also represents a varied set of nations at various levels of educational and economic development.

Thus, with an emphasis on inclusive education, particularly as India assumes the G20 Presidency, India may not only display its successes and advances in digital education and edtech but also assist other developing member nations in achieving it through the use of technology in education.

The G20 Education Ministers' Meeting is one of the ministerial gatherings planned in the run-up to the G20 Leaders' Summit. It offers member nations a unique chance to work and raise awareness about various common concerns, such as investing in excellent early childhood education, ensuring equal access to education, tackling the gender divide, and so on.

Aside from the G20 Ministerial level meeting, the Argentine presidency established an Education Working Group (EdWG) in 2018 to help strengthen learning outcomes and equitable access through technological tools, digitalization, universal quality education, financing, education partnerships, and international cooperation.

It also intended to collaborate with other G20 working groups to address cross-sector challenges such as employment, skill development, school-to-work transition, and so on. As part of India's G20 presidency, the EdWG will hold seminars in partnership with organizations such as NCERT, NSDC, and UNESCO on the role of digital technology in education and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training), as well as the future of employment.

PM Shri Narendra Modi, also the Union Minister for Education, has emphasized the importance of the G20 as a chance for India to display its edtech leadership and highlight the advances achieved in digital education.

During the Summit, India will also highlight the work under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recognizes the importance of technology in improving learning outcomes and presents a new educational template to the world that can serve as a global model for emerging economies.

A strong public policy commitment to technology-enabled education, supported by a bold vision and enough funding, is critical to attaining inclusive education goals.

The recently created G20-Digital Innovation Alliance (DIA) demonstrates the current government's desire to leverage digital innovation to achieve inclusion in education. The DIA seeks to foster new solutions and to form an alliance of actors in the innovation ecosystem, such as start-ups, investors, mentors, and institutions, that are developing digital public goods/innovations for the benefit of economies and society. This might include, for example, start-ups developing edtech solutions.

In more ways than one, 2023 will be momentous for India. The G20 Presidency provides India with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shape the global education agenda and the world's path toward reaching the other SDGs.

"By education, I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man-body, mind, and spirit," Mahatma Gandhi stated. Literacy is neither the end nor the beginning of schooling, and it is one method of educating both men and women. Literacy is not an education in and of itself."