Media and Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) with support from Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD), Government of India organized Manthan– an Academia Meet at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad today. This platform was for the dignitaries to connect, exchange ideas and build relations for career opportunities for the coming generations.
Manthan was inaugurated by the chairman-MESC film maker educationist chief guest Shri Subhash Ghai alongwith Govt. of India Min. of HRD sr. economic advisor Rajeev Jalnapurkar, Ramoji Film City & MESC CEO Mohit Soni amongst others.
The event brought together academicians, media and the entertainment industry and was focused on the skills training and career opportunities in the Media and Entertainment Industry. It also highlighted the possibilities of an association between Media and Entertainment Skills Council and participating esteemed Academic Institutions.
The event also showcased the unveiling of “Creative Warriors”, MESC’s specialized programs in B.Sc. courses in Performing Arts, Animation and VFX and Film Making and would also include Graphics, Gaming and VFX etc. at a later stage. This will provide the students with complete and in-depth knowledge in their chosen trades and equip them with job ready skills. The universities concerned are empowered to take up these courses through their colleges, while autonomous colleges are readily empowered, and other colleges can take up these courses with their university approval.
Speaking on the occasion, MESC Chairman film maker educationist Subhash Ghai shared, “We are all working together to develop and innovate young creative minds through this initiative of Manthan. Today, India is only a job-doers country despite the rich and glorious 3,000 years of wisdom and knowledge. Currently, we are facing a huge problem of lack of jobs for youngsters with degrees, here is when, we come into the picture of rethinking and reinitiating processes to develop what should be developed. I believe, Indians are a very creative set of people but we far behind the times. With the initiative of Manthan, we will be able to focus on human, skill, creative and innovation development to make our future generations seekers, explorers and believers.”
Sharing his views, MHRD, Government of India Senior Economic Advisor Mr. Subba Rao said, “With great anticipation and hope we have started this initiative of merging the two most huge segments Media & Entertainment and Human Resource Development to garner unexplored possibilities and opportunities for the sector. The introduction of relevant courses and developing the right skillset will provide students with complete in-depth knowledge in their chosen trades and make them industry ready. This would help in addressing the disconnect between education and economy with the industry growing at an autonomous rate. We already have around 300 colleges present with us and we are looking to tie-up with around 10,000 colleges in the industry and service sector in the next one year to get this program started.”
Addressing the delegates, MESC CEO Mohit Soni said, “Media & Entertainment Industry is growing at an exponential rate but at the same time it is grappling with many Skill Development Challenges including a huge supply-demand gap both in terms of quality and quantity of workforce. Our focus is to create entrepreneurs, who in turn will create jobs bridging the existing job gap in this fastest growing industry. Through this event and the encouraging words and presence from the industry, we are hoping to have many more Manthan sessions.”
“The Media and Entertainment landscape has changed tremendously, and we have serviced more than 4000 films in multiple languages. Ramoji Film City has recently won the largest film studio complex in the world replacing Hollywood’s Universal Studios which is a proud moment for us. We want to provide more training programs and opportunities for filmographers, directors and so on because there is a need for trained staff at workplaces like ours,” said Ramoji Film City CEO Mr. Rajeev Jalnapurkar
Other renowned personalities among many others who addressed the delegates included Mr. Manvendra Shukul, CEO – Lakshya Digital Studios, Treasurer, MESC, Mr. Pete Draper, Co-Founder, Division Head and Chief Technical Director, Makuta VFx (Baahubali movie fame), Mr. Sathish Narayanan, Founder, DMES, Chief Expert WorldSkills India, Graphic Design Technology, Mr. Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Chief Technology Officer, Whistling Woods International.
MESC is the industry led sector skill council promoted by FICCI and setup by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). MESC is working under aegis of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).