Speaking at the first plenary session of the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal urged developing nations to ensure maximum utilisation of the demographic advantage they possessed. “It is in the interest of the developed countries to come forward and partner with the countries having demographic advantage towards developing human resources”, Sibal said.

Sibal also pointed out that the education system must keep pace with technological development and use tools like Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to ensure that quality education reaches children in the remotest areas. He also added that regional, national and local conditions also needed to be taken into account for a human resource development strategy as there was no successful ‘ one size fits all’ approach.

Elaborating on the concept of ‘Skill Development’, the minister said that each country must assess its own economy and empower its youth by providing them the skills necessary for contributing to economic development. He also added that ‘structural reforms’ and ‘out of the box’ thinking was required in the education sector to re-orient it to meet the growing aspirations of people.