India and Singapore on Monday agreed to create opportunities for lifelong learning, building a future-ready workforce, and making knowledge and skill development a key pillar of strategic partnership, according to the Ministry of Education.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is on a three-day visit to Singapore to strengthen existing ties and to explore the possibility of widening the scope of bilateral engagement in education and skill development.

Pradhan met various key ministers of the Singapore Government and visited Spectra Secondary School on Monday.

During the meeting, Pradhan said that under the leadership of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Indian Government launched the National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020. NEP 2020 is specifically focussing on providing early exposure to vocational education in middle schools, ensuring that market relevance of training as well as building capacity of our institutions to provide technical and vocational education. He further informed the Government is also working towards integrating skills qualifications framework with higher education qualification framework and investing in developing short-term and long-term training programs to provide skilling, re-skilling and upskilling opportunities. The Minister stressed on learning from the best practices of Singapore, collaborate and customize it to meet Indian needs.

Dharmendra Pradhan had an insightful discussion with Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry H.E Mr. Gan Kim Yong. The Ministers had fruitful conversations on strengthening our skill development and vocational training linkages through all mechanisms for creating a seamless architecture for skilling and lifelong learning. Building on the outcomes of the G20 Future of Work workshop in Bhubaneswar, they also discussed ways in which India can leverage the expertise and knowledge of Singapore for addressing common challenges and transforming the Indian skills ecosystem.