NEW DELHI: The Delhi Archives has launched two short term programmes for heritage tour guide and record management-preservation to impart professional training. The aim is to provide requisite skills making aspirants eligible for the jobs.
The duration of both courses will be three months and first batches are likely to start from January. Each batch of tourist guide programme will have 30 students and record management and preservation will comprise 60. 50 per cent seats may be reserved for government employees.
“In Delhi, there is no good training institute for tourist guides where someone can get professional training. To fill this vacuum, a tourist guide programme has been started. Same is the case with records management and their preservation. The government departments create records in bulk but don’t have trained or skilled professionals,” said a senior government official.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday inaugurated the training centre which has been set up at Archives’ head office in Qutub Institutional Area. The facility will be operated by the department in collaboration with Primero Skills And Training.
“In some government offices, bundles of old documents are poorly kept while in some offices they are preserved well. And that’s possible due to some creative officers and their professional training. So, special training will be imparted to 60 young professionals every three months at Delhi Archives so these records are available to future generations in a professional manner,” said Sisodia.
Sisodia also laid the foundation stone of ‘Kala Kunj’— annexe cum cultural hub on the campus. The new building proposed to be completed in two years will have an amphitheatre, an audiovisual centre, a cafe, additional space for archives storage, and libraries.
“This annexe will have a proper storage facility, where records will be kept at an ideal temperature and relative humidity. Besides a guest house, there will be exhibition galleries where upcoming artists and performers will be able to showcase their work.” “In south Delhi, there is an acute shortage of space for budding artists as existing facilities are very costly,” said the official. Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation has been allocated Rs 50 crores for construction and timely completion of the project.