The Commonwealth Games volunteer programme is turning out to be a big hit among students of various Delhi colleges and universities.
Nearly 10,000 students from Delhi University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi Technological University and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology have registered as volunteers.
Indian Institute of Technology is not sending volunteers as it has examinations in October.
The registration process, which began about two months ago, is scheduled to conclude by this month end.
Secretary Culture and Managing Director Delhi Tourism Corporation, Rina Ray said: “The Games will provide an excellent learning ground for volunteers who will gain in self esteem, acquire improved communications skills, learn collective responsibility and cooperation. They will also become part of the nation-building process. This is a once in a life time opportunity for students.”
“We need 18,000 student volunteers from Delhi. Some institutes have examinations at the moment. Once these examinations are done with more students will volunteer,” she added.
Volunteers will be trained for four days spread across the year beginning in April. The training will be in two parts -- general and specific. In the general training sessions, students will be briefed about basic hospitality, courtesy and knowledge about Delhi.
In the second phase specific training will be given to volunteers who will be allotted duties related to tourism, culture, sports events and crowd management while some will be stationed with the police, at media centres, hotels and the airport.
The skills of students will also be considered while allotting duties. Training will take place at halls and auditoriums in various colleges across the city.
Volunteers will be typically expected to work for approximately 10 days during the Games. They will be given specially designed uniforms, meal tickets and free transport for the duration of the Games.
Though no stipend will be given, volunteers will receive a certificate acknowledging their work.
In all, 30,000 volunteers are required from Delhi of which 18,000 will be from Delhi colleges and universities. The rest of the volunteers will be drawn from government organisations. Senior citizens and disabled people will also be made volunteers.
“Many former military personnel, retired bureaucrats, housewives and resident welfare associations have shown interest in the volunteer programme,” Ms. Ray said
“The hub of volunteering activity will be the Volunteer Operations Centre (VOC). We have identified a big building behind Lady Shri Ram College as the VOC where the initial interaction with the volunteers will take place. The VOC will be the central point for catering, uniforms and other matters related to volunteers,” Ms. Ray added.
