Bengaluru hosts conference on futures literacy

BENGALURU: Educationists and futurists are participating in a ‘Futures Literacy’ conference in Bengaluru to discuss the future of skilling and education in view of dramatic disruptions caused by climate crisis and artificial intelligence.

The conference, organised by non-profit organisation Quest Alliance on October 9 and 10, is the first-ever conversation on futures literacy in India. The conference encompasses discussions on impact of AI on future learning and employment dynamics, ramifications of climate change on education and the mental health of young students, and prospects of green employment opportunities in the years to come.

The conference looks to bring together experts and stakeholders to address challenges and chart a course for a more resilient and skilled future workforce in India.

The experts attending the conference will deliberate on how educational institutions, governments and civil society can help enable students with ‘futures literacy’, a phrase coined by UNESCO to mean the ‘ability to see the role of the future in the present’. The experts will shed light on empowering youth to actively shape their destinies rather than passively accepting what the future holds for them.

Among the educationists and futurists attending the conference are Professor Shermon Cruz, Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF), and also the UNESCO Chair Candidate on Anticipatory Governance and Regenerative Cities at Northwestern University in the Philippines; Dr Sakshi Khurana, Senior Specialist at NITI Ayog (Labour, Employment and Skill Development); Shakil Ahmed, Country Lead, Bangladesh, Ed Tech Hub and Futurist at Ridiculous Futures; and Maneesh Mishra, Executive Vice President, Strategy, National Skills Development Corporation. Many technology experts will also deliberate on the role of artificial intelligence in shaping the future.

“Rapid advances in climate change and artificial intelligence have created a sense of anxiety among our youth. There is an urgent need to contemplate the Future so that the pervading anxiety is changed to hope. This calls for reimagining and co-creating collective desired futures through future thinking and building futures literacy as a capability. This conference is a step towards that,” said Quest Alliance CEO Aakash Sethi.

The conference will also host an exhibition and participants can access a walkthrough into the future of education in the year 2045. A key segment of the exhibition will be an AR/VR assisted journey into evolution of schools from the past to the future. The exhibition will also provide peak preview of how lives of youth will look like in the year 2045.

A research report on how young students perceive the future will also be released in the conference. The report, which covered 600 students from Odisha, Assam and Gujarat, brings out young people’s voices on how they are imagining their futures. At the summit, experts will speak about the need to broaden the scope of 21st-century skills that will encompass the incorporation of future skills.