Government to introduce UG, PG courses, applied games and books in schools to promote AVGC sector

NEW DELHI: In a bid to make audio visual, gaming and comic (AVGC) education as sought after as medical and engineering, a government-appointed task force has suggested starting globally recognised undergraduate and postgraduate courses and tapping talent at the school level leveraging the National Education Policy.

The AVGC Task Force, chaired by Apurva Chandra, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has also recommended to the government to launch a National AVGC-XR Mission with a budget outlay for integrated promotion of the sector and a 'Create in India' campaign on the lines of ‘Make in India’ with an exclusive focus on content creation. XR refers to Extended Reality, an umbrella term used to describe immersive technologies that can merge the physical and virtual worlds.

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The AVGC Task Force was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech this year to promote the AVGC sector which has been growing at 16 per cent year-on-year to emerge as a USD three-billion market. "The AVGC sector currently accounts for nearly one per cent of the global market. India's share can rise to six per cent and the sector has the potential to create 20 lakh jobs in the next 10 years," Chandra told reporters here. He said the AVGC sector was a sunrise sector after information technology.

The task force submitted its report 'Realising AVGC-XR Sector Potential in India' to Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur last week. Ashish Kulkarni, founder of Punnaryug Artivision and a member of the task force, said the recommendations given by the task force could lead to the creation of a dedicated roadmap for careers in the AVGC sector on the lines of medical and engineering. Chandra said India was emerging as a primary destination for high-end, skill-based activities in the AVGC sector with a number of Hollywood studios doing post-production work in the country.

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The task force also recommended establishing a National Centre of Excellence (COE) for the AVGC sector to become an international reference point across Skilling, Education, Industry Development and Research and Innovation for the sector. It also said that regional COEs will be instituted in collaboration with the state governments to provide access to local industries and to promote local talent and content.

The task force also suggested establishing AVGC Accelerators and Innovation hubs in academic institutions, on the lines of Atal Tinkering Labs. It also suggested leveraging ‘Startup India’ to provide technical, financial and market access assistance to AVGC entrepreneurs to promote the culture of R&D and local IP creation. The task force also recommended establishing a dedicated production fund for domestic content creation from across the country to promote Indian culture and heritage globally.

According to the report, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will closely work with Ministry of Education to draft a holistic framework for AVGC-XR education in India. The framework will comprise:

• nomenclature for degrees
• course duration
• teaching methodologies
• core areas of teaching
• new subjects
• mode of examination for creative fields etc.

For the skilling of students, the government may advise National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to introduce books on subjects related to AVGC-XR sector and inclusion of applied games at upper primary and secondary levels in schools.

Further, the government will consider the feasibility of conducting a standardised admission test for facilitating admissions into animation, visual effects, gaming, film making or any other career programmes in AVGC-XR sector.