The Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University funded by the University Grants Commission, was formally established in December, 2016 for the preservation and promotion of endangered languages of Sikkim and North Bengal to compliment national and international endeavours to  document  and preserve endangered languages of the world. The Centre works in collaboration with the various indigenous communities of Sikkim and North Bengal, various departments of Sikkim University, the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, and other local, national and international organisations to safeguard the endangered languages. 

Through the ongoing documentation of Bhujel, Gurung, Magar, Rai-Rokdung, and Sherpa, the Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University has compiled a comprehensive fieldwork questionnaire, sociolinguistic profiles of these languages, corpus of linguistic expressions and technological tools for community use,which we hope will become catalysts in preserving and promoting these languages. 

Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalayas Endangered Language Archive (SiDHELA) is a regional archive maintained by the Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University  in collaboration with the Central Library, Sikkim University to host the documented resources.  The archived data follows the Dublin Core Metadata standards and adheres to the Open Language Archives Community’s recommendations with the following broad and intersecting objectives: 

• for digital preservation of the linguistic and cultural diversity

• to enhance the scholarly communication

• to provide access to resources on the region’s endangered languages

The collections in the SiDHELA, currently, consists of primary linguistic data of five languages from Sikkim and North Bengal viz. Bhujel, Gurung, Magar, Rai-Rokdung and Sherpa. Each collection contains linguistic items like Lexicon, Sentence, Folk songs, Folk tales, Procedural instructions and Narrations.