New Delhi, October 16, 2019: Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), today announced the launch of 14 Authorized World Skills India Training Centers (AWSITC) across 9 cities in India, for the Media and Entertainment sector. The new institutes are being set up for advanced skill training of candidates in the media and entertainment sector, not just to compete in the WorldSkills and IndiaSkills competitions buts also to further develop the skilling eco-system for training candidates for the international market.

The state of the art AWSITCs, set up in partnership with the MESC (Media & Entertainment Skill Council), will help the candidates to enhance their skill as per the global standards and the training programs will be designed as per the NSFQ level, which will be industry linked. All candidates will get hands-on training on live projects.

The minister also marked the event by felicitating some of the winners of the recently concluded WorldSkills competition, held in Kazan in August this year.

For winning a bronze medal in the graphic design category at Kazan, Shweta Ratanpura and her mentor Mr. Sathish Narayan received a cash prize of Rs one lakh. Nidhin Prem, winner of a Medallion of Excellence for 3D game Art, and his mentor Mr. Pradeep Kumar received INR 50,000 while Shrenik Gagule and his mentor Mr. Sameer Prabhune received INR 20,000 each for scoring 11th Rank in the Printing Technology category.

This year was India’s best ever performance in the biennial WorldSkills competition. The 48-member Indian team won one Gold, one Silver, two Bronze medals besides 15 Medallions of Excellence at the competition.

The event also witnessed the presence of Ms. Sunita Sanghi – Sr. Advisor, MSDE; Mr. Manish Kumar, CEO, NSDC; Mr. Subhash Ghai, Chairman, MESC; Ms. Shobha Ghosh, Asst. Secretary General, FICCI; Mr. Mohit Soni, CEO, MESC among other eminent dignitaries from industry and academia of various states.

Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said on the occasion “With the advent of technology, skilling in the sector is gaining traction worldwide. There are lot of avenues for skilled workforce across evolving sectors like graphic design, 3D Digital Game Art, Print Media etc. These world class state of the art centres will help in preparing the candidates to be ready in making our country proud at various competitions and also equip them with enhanced skills in order to become industry ready.”

Mr. Subhash Ghai, Chairman, Media and Entertainment Skill Council said at the event, “Participating in the WorldSkills competition is a great honour. It is a global platform and privilege of being there and then coming back with a medal is something memorable. Platform like WorldSkills go a long way in incentivizing and encouraging people to not just learn a skill but excel at it. We hope that through this institute, we can encourage more youth to get skilled and not just participate, but come back with a medal and make their country proud.”

Mr. Manish Kumar, CEO, NSDC said, “Vocational training in technical sectors has a lot of scope and opportunity. Within this, it is important to link skill training with industry requirements which can help us to effectively create a sustainable skill ecosystem in the country. Achieving the overall vision of making India the skilling hub of the world is on track and these state of the art AWSITC will be a key endeavor for this. It is our duty towards the youth to provide them with the best training infrastructure and modules which will take them closer to realising their dreams.”

After the remarkable performance at WorldSkills Kazan, 2019, MESC is geared up to mark its best performance at WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 with the help of 14 AWSITC with the purpose to train and groom the future WorldSkills Competition champions with the help of industry engagement and participation in live projects. AWSITC will also be the stage for Faculty and Student Exchange Programs ensuring global standards and cater to the evolving manpower demand from the Industry.

The certification courses of 9 months to 36 months duration on graphic design technology, 3D Digital Game and Print Media technology will be offered at the centres. Striving to achieve Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Skill India across the nation, AWSITC shall also function as a platform for all states to leverage and be benefited in terms of training the candidates who will be identified at state/regional or different levels of progression.