BEIJING: Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar today called for increased cooperation in the field of education and said it is a universal good and empowers everybody.
Highlighting initiatives of the Indian government in education, Mr Javadekar, who was addressing the 5th BRICS Education Ministers meeting on the second day here, said it’s not negotiation, but cooperation all the way.
So, increased cooperation in education is the need of the hour. It will set the tone for the world of the future. Mr Javadekar led the Indian delegation and thanked China for hosting the meeting in Beijing. Delegation of all the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) countries participated in the two-day deliberations.
He appreciated the creation of institutional mechanism in the form of BRICS Network University and BRICS Think Tank Council. Under BRICS Network University proposal 12 universities from each of the 5 countries will engage with each other in education research and innovation.
The 5 areas of cooperation which have been prioritised are–Communication and IT, Economics, Climate Change, Water Resources and Pollution, and BRICS study. Mr Javadekar assured India’s full participation and cooperation.
The HRD minister also reaffirmed the Indian government’s commitment for reforming and reprioritising its education. In School Education, it is the learning outcomes which are being emphasised upon, and efforts are on to promote creativity and keep alive curiosity and inquisitiveness amongst students.
In higher education the focus is on skilling, research and innovation. He emphasised the steps taken to achieve equity through increased scholarships, education loans, remission and fee waivers for disadvantaged and marginalised sections.
Mr Javadekar highlighted some of the initiatives of the Govt. of India in education where he specifically spoke about the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) which provides a relative ranking of Indian institutions, India’s indigenous MOOCs platform, SWAYAM, which has already hosted over 480 courses online and, this year, plan to host 2000 courses and GIAN (Global Initiative for Academics Network) under which 600 professors from 62 countries have already conducted their courses in India and, this year, we expect to receive another 800 faculty from across the world.(Agencies)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
