Education minister in Paris for G7 meeting

Education minister Mailis Reps (Centre) is in Paris, France on Thursday, attending a G7 ministers' meeting, the first of its kind for Estonia.
The meeting's focus includes equal access to education, early learning, and the teaching profession, BNS reports.
Reps, invited by her French counterpart Jean-Michel Blanquer, is also scheduled to meet Canadian colleagues, according to ministry spokespersons.
"Being invited to a G7 meeting for the first time ever is major recognition for Estonia and confirms that our education system is a model for the world," Reps said ahead of the meeting.
Jean-Michel Blanquer noted that in addition to noteworthy results on the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessments, Estonia's achievements in transforming digital education, its presidency of the Council of the EU (held in the latter half of 2017) and in creating one of the world's most equitable education systems, were all highly valued.
Blanquer added that the G7 nations ‒ Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. ‒ can all learn from Estonia's experience and knowledge.
Representatives from two other non-G7 nations, Argentina and Singapore, are also due at the meeting.
Reps will also meet education ministers from two Canadian provinces, New Brunswick and Quebec, and present winners of a student competition held in France and aimed at tackling educational inequality, with their awards.
The G7 is an informal forum for the seven major economic powers noted above.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte