With an eye on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Home Guards on Tuesday kicked off a month-long pilot project to teach 60 of its personnel spoken English.

British Lingua, a Delhi-based English language training institute, has designed the course and is providing the trainers.

The course is intended to be interactive. Ideas are put across by simulating situations and the Home Guards are asked to respond to enquiries that a foreign visitor might have.

“The objective is to avoid a communication gap among personnel while interacting with foreigners visiting during the Games, as Home Guards are expected to man traffic junctions,” Junior Staff Officer Rahul Sudan, in-charge of the course, said.

“Of almost 8,500 Home Guards, almost 8,000 are on duty with the Delhi Police on most days. One of their main assignments is traffic regulation,” he added.

“Most of them have not spoken English all their lives. We have therefore planned an interactive course that will help them get over their inhibitions,” Monica Gaba, trainer with British Lingua, said.

“We approached the Home Guards, along with the Delhi Police and the state Tourism Department, with the proposal to prepare the personnel for the Commonwealth Games,” Birbal Jha, Managing Director of British Lingua, said.

On Tuesday, no one showed up on time for the course, which was scheduled to start at 8 am. After noticing that only five had turned up by 9.30 am, orders were given to get 60 “well-dressed” people from the parade ground. In 10 minutes, the lecture hall was brimming with khaki-clad men.

“If the programme is successful, we will start a course in January next year to train around 1,000 Home Guards in six months,” Sudan said.

Any individual under 60 who has passed matriculation is eligible to join the Guards, making any batch a diverse group of people.

A survey conducted by British Lingua among 100 Home Guards this February had indicated that 30 per cent of the force had passed graduation, Jha said.