NEW DELHI: To create awareness about historical buildings and their relevance among students, Delhi Archives has planned a massive campaign under which a heritage club will be set up in each Delhi government school.
The clubs aim to make city residents understand the value of local culture and heritage with the help of the students, said senior government officials, associated with the project, which is likely to be launched soon.
“The basic problem with the students in Delhi is that the majority of them belong to migrated families. They don’t connect with the history and heritage of the city.
It is so because we are not putting focus on this issue. They are unaware of the existence of ancient buildings or monuments in their neighbourhood. We have also planned to come up with a set of history books with different themes for students,” said Sanjay Garg, head of the archives.
The concept of the heritage clubs in a government school was first conceived by former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in 2011. In the beginning, the department will form clubs in five schools of all education districts including one each in Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya and Sarvodaya Vidyalaya located in rural or ‘backward’ areas of the district as a pilot.
“We have identified 60 schools; five each in 12 Education districts. Later, the scheme will be implemented in all government schools in a phased manner,” said another senior official. There are more than 1,000 schools in the national capital, which are managed by the state government.
The programme will be run in collaboration with the department of archaeology, directorate of education and department of art, culture & languages. For the pilot project, the department of archives has set aside Rs 15 lakh to be released as a grant to 60 schools to organise various activities such as quiz and painting competitions.
The proposal is also being well-received by the heritage experts and historians. Swapna Liddle, author and historian, said learning heritage and history should be part of our everyday lives and it should definitely start at the school level.
“Heritage preservation is not the responsibility of one or two organisations. It also provides an opportunity to understand people. The government should also look at capacity buildings of teachers and train them suitably,” said Liddle, who is also the convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which runs heritage clubs in association with private schools.
proposed Activities for heritage clubs
Museum education and outreach programmes Students programmes at heritage festivals Guided tours to monuments, heritage sites, havelies, museums and archives To encourage the schools to adopt a nearby monument Heritage Mela to be organized every year on International heritage day by involving students