Out of the 175 sanctioned posts for assistant archaeologists in ASI, 88 are lying vacant.

New Delhi: Battling staff crunch in various departments, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will soon start a government recognised post-graduation course to provide advanced training in the subject.

ASI’s Institute of Archaeology already offers a diploma course in archaeology. However, considering over a hundred seats lying vacant, ASI and National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology, a deemed university that falls under Ministry of Culture, have decided to sign an agreement to provide a two-year programme.

This will help the culture ministry churn out well trained archaeologists to fill various posts, starting from entry level to senior supervisory level.

“Despite providing a course in archaeology and training aspirants rigorously, the diploma provided by Institute of Archaeology is not recognized by any academic regulatory body. However, once the agreement is done between the government body and the university, the archaeology course will be recognized by the National Museum Institute of History of Art (NMI) and will be upgraded to a two-year post graduation programme,” NMI Vice Chancellor & DG Museum BR Mani told News18.

National Institute of Archaeology will soon be established in Greater Noida to provide higher education in the subject.

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