[Title] G20 Education Ministers' Meeting, Outcome Document and Chair's Summary
The Outcome Document pertains to paragraphs 1 to 6 and 9 to 34 which have been unanimously agreed to by all G20 members. The Chair's Summary pertains to paragraphs 7 and 8.
Preamble
1. We, the Ministers of Education of the G20 member states and invited countries, met in Pune, India, on 22 June 2023, to reaffirm the critical role of quality education and training as an enabler for human dignity and empowerment; equity, equality, and inclusiveness; sustainable and socio-economic growth; active citizenship, prosperity, peace and well-being.
2. We reiterate our commitment to work together towards achieving a more resilient, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future through accessible quality education and training at every level and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. Such a commitment will take us towards our vision of One Earth, One Family, One Future, the theme of the G20 Presidency in 2023.
3. In line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and as articulated by the previous G20 Education Ministers' Declarations and Statements, we reiterate that education is a human right and can contribute to the realization of other rights. The continuity of education in all situations is imperative for sustainable development.
4. We are working to help ensure that, as recalled at the UN 2022 Transforming Education Summit, all learners, regardless of their age group, gender, economic, socio-cultural, ethnic, religious and regional background, and those facing physical, or mental disabilities, having learning difficulties or special needs have access to quality, inclusive and equitable education and training as well as support for their well-being through all situations of emergencies and crises, so that they are able to build resilient futures.
5. We emphasize that education is not only about academic learning but also about developing life, technical and vocational skills through learning and training programmes that make learners ready for the future and able to contribute meaningfully to the society. We will continue to develop comprehensive strategies and agile policy directions in this regard.
6. We recognize the contributing role of digital transformations, advancing the empowerment of women and girls, supporting a sustainable transition to a green economy, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and lifestyles as accelerators that can advance the progress towards achieving the SDGs. We recognize the importance of the following key levers in ushering in the education-led growth that we have envisaged.
7. The war in Ukraine has further adversely impacted the global economy. There was a discussion on the issue.*1* We reiterated our national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which, in Resolution No. ES-11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes for, 5 against, 35 abstentions, 12 absent) deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine. Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognizing that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy.*2*
8. It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflicts. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today's era must not be of war.
Ensuring Foundational Literacy and Numeracy especially in context of Blended Learning
9. We recognize that quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is the foundation for learners' education and development. We will therefore strive to increase access to affordable, equitable, quality early learning environments that are inclusive, safe and gender sensitive. We recognize the need to address the health, nutritional and socio-emotional well-being of every learner, and to support their holistic development. In this regard, we also acknowledge the valuable role of parents, community and other workers in ECEC.
10. We recognize that foundational learning (literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills) is the critical building block for successful education, employment and lifelong learning. We recognize that without foundational learning, children and young people cannot optimally realize their full potential.
11. As part of our commitment to support the achievement of SDG4, we reaffirm the role of schools, in particular, and the necessity for increasing the enrollment and retention of all learners, especially the most vulnerable. We also reaffirm the need for immediate and collective action to ensure that all learners acquire foundational learning so that, by 2030, the percentage of children, particularly girls and children with disabilities, not able to read and understand a simple text and do simple math by grade 2 or 3 is reduced substantially.
12. We emphasize the need to support learning through innovative techniques including the use of developmentally appropriate approaches and materials including in local languages, where applicable, and sign languages. We also stress the need for developing mechanisms for comprehensive and continuous learning assessment within the formal learning environment, so that the diverse needs of all students are addressed in a timely manner. We reiterate our commitment to harnessing digital technologies for promoting blended approaches in the teaching-learning process.
13. We value the central role of all teachers and education support staff in ensuring better foundational learning including providing opportunities to all teachers for their continuous professional development, with special attention to their initial training and building their capacities to support innovative teaching-learning processes. We will work to foster environments that allow teachers to focus on their main professional duties.
Making Tech-enabled Learning more Inclusive, Qualitative and Collaborative at every level
14. We reaffirm the transformative potential of digital technologies as an enabler for context appropriate, inclusive, equitable and accessible quality education and training and as a tool to support face-to-face education. We recognize the need to work collectively to develop technology ecosystems and learning resources, including in local languages, wherever applicable, that are affordable and easily accessible.
15. We encourage the development and use of standardized frameworks as appropriate for educational content, technology, and pedagogy; effective mechanisms for assessing learning outcomes; capacity building of teachers and trainers to ensure the availability, quality, effectiveness, and safety of tech-enabled learning.
16. We reiterate our commitment to overcome the digital divide for all learners by addressing barriers to accessible, equitable, inclusive, ethical, privacy-protected, and secure technological infrastructure. We strive to provide learners with opportunities to acquire necessary skills to benefit from digital learning while working towards their privacy, protection, and safety in digital environments.
17. We encourage ethical practices in the use of digital technologies in education, fostering open educational resources, and strengthening interoperability of digital resources, wherever appropriate, in ways that leverage the benefits of data and analytics in education while protecting privacy and security.
Building Capacities, Promoting Life-Long Learning in the context of the Future of work
18. We recognize the need for transforming education and training systems to prepare all learners for the emerging skill requirements for life, work, and sustainable development.
19. We emphasize the importance of enabling life-long learning with flexible and evolving career pathways focused on skilling, reskilling, and upskilling especially for vulnerable and under-represented groups; transition between academic and vocational education and training and vice versa; recognition of prior learning as well as alternative credentials; accrediting skills, work experiences and knowledge throughout life, beyond formal education.
20. We aim to work towards providing expanded access to high-quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) opportunities, including expanded workbased learning, digital learning environments and promotion of green transitions, which effectively respond to the needs of the labour market and the society.
21. We aim to support learners of all ages in the acquisition of digital skills, environmental literacy, financial skills, cognitive skills, citizenship skills, socioemotional skills, entrepreneurial skills, and STEAM3 competencies to help prepare them for a technology-based future and a just and inclusive transition to an environmentally sustainable economy and society.
22. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally redefining teaching and learning and consequently reshaping the demand for knowledge and skills. Therefore, we encourage coordination and systematic assessment of the evolution of AI, including generative AI, which is a challenge to educational systems, and which also has the potential to improve them. We support an equitable and inclusive use of AI in education and skilling that respects human rights.
23. Recognising the work carried out by previous G20 Presidencies and following up on the G20 Skills Strategy adopted under the Turkish Presidency and revised under the Indonesian Presidency, we look forward to further work in this regard.
Strengthening research and promoting innovation through richer collaboration in education and training
24. The challenges that the world faces today require interdisciplinary research and coordinated efforts among countries. We therefore recognize that a competitive, knowledge-based economy capable of sustainable and inclusive growth calls for the integration of the three sides of the Knowledge Triangle: Education, Research, and Innovation.
25. We aim to promote collaborations among higher education institutions in G20 member states and invited countries to facilitate joint academic and research initiatives in education and training. This collaboration could take the form of Joint/Dual, Twinning degree programmes; mobility of students, faculty and staff; expanding access to scholarly knowledge; sharing of research, evidence, and resources among educational institutions as appropriate and continued collaborations of institutions in accordance with countries' respective priorities, laws and regulations.
26. We encourage countries to promote intersectoral collaborations within their respective countries by strengthening industry-academia-government linkages to promote multidisciplinary research and innovation.
Way Forward
27. We recognize the importance of investment in supporting human capital development and will continue to work together and support each other, in the true spirit of One Earth, One Family, One Future, for transforming our education systems to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. We will collaborate with each other to build more equitable, inclusive, resilient, and adaptive quality education and skilling systems towards the achievement of wellbeing based on balance and harmony.
28. Recognizing foundational literacy and numeracy skills as the primary building blocks for all future learning and training, we aim to work together to support learners to acquire this competency substantially by 2030, particularly for the world's most vulnerable children.
29. We will continue to encourage collaborative solutions and innovations to promote quality teaching, learning, and skilling, through programmes that are gender sensitive. We will support each other in building globally relevant competencies and promoting lifelong learning by sharing lessons, experiences, and evidence, and building future-ready skill strategies.
30. We will work to foster academic collaborations among our educational institutions through joint programmes, student and staff mobility and other such practices.
31. We support the vision and mission of education-led growth in our countries and beyond and express our deepest commitment for working together in this direction.
32. We welcome the outcome documents from the G20 Education Working Group (EdWG):
a. G20 EdWG Report: Education Policies and Programmes in G20 Countries
b. G20 EdWG Compendium: Education Policies and Programmes in G20 Countries.
33. We recognize and thank the contributions of the participating international organizations – OECD, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
34. We thank the Indian Presidency for its leadership in 2023 and look forward to our next meeting under the Brazilian Presidency in 2024. The outcome documents mentioned in paragraph 32, as welcomed today, shall be submitted for consideration by the Leaders to be annexed to the Declaration of the G20 Leaders' Summit to be held in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023.
{*1* China stated that the G20 technical working groups are not the right forums to discuss geopolitical issues.}
{*2* Russia disassociated itself from the status of this document as a common outcome because of references to paragraphs 7 and 8.}