G20 meet: India promises to eliminate education inequalities

India represented by Sanjay Dhotre, the minister of state for education, “reiterated the country’s commitment towards reducing and eventually eliminating educational poverty, inequalities and early school leaving”, the union education ministry said Wednesday.

The meeting was hosted in blended mode by Italy, in which G20 education ministers shared views on how to progress on the fight against educational poverty and inequalities, especially in context of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The ministers also decided to share innovative experiences with each other to ensure the continuity of learning pathways through blended education model.

Dhotre spoke about India’s new education policy and several welfare scheme that the country runs to bridge the education inequalities especially for girls and socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

The minister also spoke about the recent online push in education and reaffirms India’s “support to the collective efforts of the G-20 countries to reduce educational poverty, inequalities.”

Dhotre along with labour minister Santosh Gangwar also spoke in the joint education and labour ministers meet, where the G20 countries underlined the importance of transitions from school to work. “Our approach has been to integrate vocational education with general academic education, with focus on demand driven, competency based, and modular vocational courses,” Dhotre said.

Gangwar spoke about India’s new labour codes and reiterated that Indian government’s policy will reduce discrimination in wages, recruitment and conditions of employment. He also spoke about women workers and how the union government is making enabling provision for women to work in night shifts.