Keeping with the tradition of Monday Morning Talk by eminent speakers, Prof. Vasuki Belavadi, a Professor at the Department of Communication, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, University of Hyderabad on 12.11.2018 spoke about his experiences on his experiment with participatory video in KIIT School of Mass Communication, Campus-18.
The occasion was also graced by Prof. Hrushikesha Mohanty, Vice-Chancellor, KIIT Deemed to be University. Welcoming the guest, Prof. Mohanty called for more collaboration of University of Hyderabad with KIIT School of Mass Communication.
The students and eminent guests were enthralled as Prof. Belavadi explained the struggles, trials and tribulations of kick starting the participatory video project by tribal children in Chhattisgarh. In the Children as Media Producers (CAMP) Participatory Media initiative of the UNESCO Chair around 20 illiterate school dropouts tribal children from Surguja in Chattisgarh were trained to make videos on issues of concern, edit them and also screen them.
The talk ended with a touching video about grass root level Sangwari Khabariyas taking about how the videos had given them confidence and respect in the society.
On replying a student’s query i.e. “why was this model not being replicated by the government across the country”, Professor Belavadi jokingly said that he was not the Prime Minister. In a serious note, he said, “The excellent work of your Founder (Dr. Achyuta Samanta) in building a university for 27,000 tribals is an example of an experiment which can be replicated elsewhere. This is something government should have done but one person has managed to do it wonderfully.”
Prof. Belavadi will be taking a 5-day workshop on documentary film making for 3rd year students of Integrated Master of Mass Communication and Journalism starting today.
In fact, Prof. Belavadi is the author of Video Production (Oxford University Press, 2008), the first to be published in India. Prof Belavadi conducts capacity sharing training in Participatory Video, particularly for children & adolescents. He is also Faculty Fellow, UNESCO Chair on Community Media.