Chandigarh, Monday, October 5, 1998
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Chandigarh, Monday, October 5, 1998 |
Schools without heads Municipal library in a mess “Ban” on foreign
students
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They triumph
over nature NATURE has been unkind to Gauri Razdan (13). She is not only confined to an armchair but also cursed with a low intelligence quotient IQ. Yet she pays tributes to her creator singing ragas in his praise. Gauri astonishes you with her knowledge of “Hindustani vocal music. She is a third year student in a course in classical music and has passed her earlier classes with distinction. Gauri’s case is not an isolated one. There are many others who have triumphed over their disabilities. A rare opportunity to meet them in person was the Special Olympics at Panjab University last week. “Special children” from all over the country participated in various track and field events. A talk with a cross-section of parents, teachers and coordinators, who make success possible for such children, was an eye-opener. Acceptance of these children is foremost, a parent of a participant from Orissa said. Gauri’s mother, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, said having “accepted” these children it was important to keep motivating them. “As such these children have a limited circle. Society, by and large, does not accept them. They are more prone to illness,” she explained. She said it was important not to talk about the disabilities in their presence. “Just be friendly and the difference in their performance can be felt. My son has taught me to love, the importance of dependence and humility”, said a parent of a participant from West Bengal. A teacher at a school for special children in Tamil Nadu said the individual capability of each child needed to be assessed. The teacher also required a certain orientation to do the same. As these children would not do well in courses structured for ordinary children, setting up of individual agenda served a better purpose. Mrs Gool R. Plumber, Director, Andhra Pradesh Association for the Welfare of the Mentally Retarded, a voluntary organisation, talked of more steps being taken in the direction for better care of “special children”. She said more than 60 schools in Andhra were associated with the organisation. A trained professional, she said “we are initiating steps to closely monitor cases of very low birth (very young women delivering children) and birth asphyxia (where children do not cry at birth). In case of asphyxia, if oxygen was not given to the child immediately, the brain was damaged. Most private nursing homes did not possess the facility. Now apart from setting up help centres, the association planned to send volunteers to hospitals to administer on the spot help, Mrs Plumber said. Mrs Plumber emphasised that workshops and activities of the school at the homes of the children by their parents was of paramount importance. Children where parents were more supporting showed a better performance. Contrary
to popular notion, children at the Special Olympics came
across as extremely loving, friendly and caring
individuals, major step towards promoting performance
adopted at the special games was to have ordinary
children, participate alongside the special ones in team
sports like football. |
“Ban” on foreign students PATIALA: The number of students seeking admission in Punjabi University from Ethiopia, Africa, has doubled while no student from Kenya and Nigeria has sought admission this year. In the past few years, Kenyan and Nigerians came in large numbers not only for courses run at the university campus, but also for graduation and postgraduation classes at the colleges in the city. The colleges in the city have not admitted any foreign student this year. While the university has been encouraging admission of foreign students, the colleges continue their unofficial ban on the admission of foreign students. According to Mr S.P.S. Virdi, Dean, Foreign Students, Punjabi University, as many as 53 students from Ethiopia have been admitted in courses run at the university campus. The figure is double than that of last year when 27 students from the country took admission. Most of the students have been sponsored by the Ethiopian Government. The fresh batch consists of boys only. Mr Virdi says the number of foreign students has possibly declined as the Indian Government has made student visa for foreign students mandatory. Not a single foreign student has enrolled himself for a research degree, whereas last year out of 27 foreign students, eight had opted for research. A research degree takes a long time as the university first enrols a student for a one-year research and then converts the research into a M.Phil or Ph.D. Degree according to the quantum and quality of research. Earlier, the undergraduate honours course and the postgraduate course in economics were favourites, but this year students from Ethiopia have made a beeline for courses in science subjects. Twelve of them have opted for M.Sc. in chemistry, 10 physics, 9 statistics, five mathematics, four botany, four zoology and one biotechnology. There are only four students in MA (economics) and three in Education. The three-year economics honours course has not had a single foreign student this year. Colleges
in the city affiliated to Punjabi University have refused
admission to foreign students as there have been several
complaints against them. Mr Gurtej Singh Sidhu,
Principal, Khalsa College, says the college had atleast
100 students from African countries two years back who
posed many problems. There was problem with the police as
some students had come to the country without a student
visa. Also, there were instances of drug trafficking.Mr
Parminder Singh Sidhu, principal, Government Mohindra
College, who shares Mr Gurtej Singh’s views, says no
foreign student has been admitted by the college this
year for similar reasons. — F.O.C. |
Schools without
heads YAMUNANAGAR: Fortytwo government schools are running without principals/headmasters in Yamunanagar district. According to a survey, the post of principal is lying vacant in 12 senior secondary schools. Interestingly, in Mehlawali the ancestral village of Mr Suraj Bhan, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, the senior secondary school is without a principal. There are seven education blocks in the district — Bilaspur, Chhachhrauli, Jagadhri (Block-I), Jagadhri (Block-II), Radaur, Sadhaura and Yamunanagar. Those senior Secondary schools where the post of the principal is lying vacant are Kotkalsia, Khizrabad, Bherthal, Khedri, Lalharikalan (all in Chhachhrauli block), Mehlawali, Saran, Mustafabad, Kalawar (Jagadhri Block), Atawa, Radaur (Radaur Block) and at Jagadhri. There are 27 senior secondary schools, 53 high schools, 62 middle schools and 41-aided private schools in the district. The posts of principal/headmaster are lying vacant in 12 senior secondary schools, high schools and 29 middle schools. Yamunanagar district was identified in 1990 by the Haryana Governor for 100 cent per cent literacy on the pattern of Ernakulam in Kerala. Ironically in this district, 72 posts of master are lying vacant — 22 in social studies, 13 in science, 14 in mathematics, 20 in physical education, two in home science and 1 in music. Sixtyeight posts of lecturer are also lying vacant — seven in English, 9 in Hindi, one in Sanskrit, one history, four political science, one economics, five commerce, three mathematics, 14 physics, six chemistry, 10 biology, two geography, two sociology, two, Punjabi and one music. Thirtyfour posts of Classical Vernacular Teacher are also lying vacant. In the district 492 primary schools impart education to 66,000 students. The post of head teacher in 28 primary schools are vacant. As many as 270 posts of JBT have also not been filled. It is
learnt that buildings of 108 primary schools are in a bad
shape. |
Municipal library in
a mess PATIALA: The 101-year-old Rajindra Victoria Diamond Jubilee Municipal Public Library situated near Quila Chowk here is in a state of utter neglect. There has been a rapid fall in the number of its members. The library would register at least 400 new members every year a few years ago but the number now has been reduced to less than 100. The library is in dire straits. It is situated on the top floor of an old dilapidated two-storeyed building owned by the Municipal Corporation. The lower floors are rented to shopkeepers. There is no parking place for persons going to the library. The path leading to the library stairs is often blocked by goods or vehicles of the shopkeeper. The steps are broken and the walls red with betel juice. the garbage on the stairs emanates intolerable stench. The condition inside is worse. There are layers of dust on books and shelves. Opening a book can be precarious as wornout pages are easily torn. The walls, it seems, have not been white-washed for years. Cracks have appeared on the ceiling and the walls. The leaking roof has not only caused dampness but also destroyed many rare books. At one time the library possessed many rare and old books, most of them in Urdu and Persian. According to Mr H.S. Sahni, and editor of a vernacular daily, researchers from far off places would visit the library in the eighties. But these rare books have now vanished. While the library and the municipal authorities maintain that the books were given to the Punjab Archives, reliable source state that these had been destroyed by termites and the silver fish. The archives authorities did not confirm possessing the books. The worst affected are the reading room and the children’s section. Two almirahs, in which rare books are kept, are in a broken state. The books stored have been destroyed due to water seepage. There is no proper furniture for visitors to the reading room. Similar is the condition of the children’s section which has no proper lighting facility. The library staff is also disturbed at the state of things. They say there is no proper drinking water facility of toilets. Though the municipality is responsible for the maintenance of the library, it is the staff which has to answer all complaints of readers. When demands for a photostat machine and the latest magazines and books are made, the staff has to cut a sorry figure. Mrs Usha Goel, Librarian, says the library comes under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation which supplies the funds. “We have written many times to the municipality and even the government about the dismal condition of the library and the threat to the staff due to the unsafe building. The government now proposes to shift the building to a new place but nothing concrete has happened in that direction”, she says. She said recently the Punjab Government had released a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the purchase of books. According to sources, the grant has only increased the problems. For one, the library has no space for more books and the grant states that only books published in Punjabi are to be purchased. Further, only a fraction of the grant has been released so far. An
official of the Municipal Corporation said the lack of
funds was the main reason for the dismal condition of the
library. He said the building was unsafe and the
municipality proposed to shift it soon. |
Campus
Scene ROHTAK: The elections to the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) scheduled for October 14 have sharpened differences among university teachers. The MDUTA split into two when the university teaching department staff constituted a parallel association under the banner of M.D. University Teaching Departments Teachers Association (MDUTDTA) and the Vice-Chancellor granted affiliation to the same on August 18 by exercising his emergency powers. The MDUTA consists of the university teaching departments, University College and teachers of the Postgraduate Regional Centre, Rewari. The teaching departments of the university have a faculty of 220 teachers, the 88 teachers appointed by the university in the University College and 14 at the Regional Centre. The newly constituted MDUTDTA claims a membership of 168, including 31 teachers who had not renewed their membership with the MDUTA. The MDUTA president, Mr Wazir Singh Nehra, alleges that the parallel association has been constituted at the behest of the Vice-Chancellor to weaken the parent body which has been fighting his “highhanded actions”. The Vice-Chancellor has removed Mr Nehra from the membership of the university house allotment committee and nominated Dr S.S. Chahal, president of the splinter association in his place. Mr Nehra has described the action of the Vice-Chancellor illegal and violative of Chapter LX of University Calendar (Vol III) which stipulates that the president of the MDUTA would be one of the five members of the house allotment committee. « « « The appointment of Vaish Engineering College teachers, Rohtak, has not been approved by the university. The college has not been able to appoint a regular principal. Mr H.M. Rai acting principal, belongs to Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra. He is on leave from his parent institution. The university team that inspected the college on July 3 has observed that “in spite of repeated reminders by the university, the college has not cared to appoint a principal and teaching staff as per the university norms and procedures.” Though the team recommended that permission to the college for enrolling students for the 1998-99 session should not be granted, the Vice-Chancellor has extended the provisional affiliation to the college in anticipation of approval of the Academic Council. The college runs B.E. classes in the disciplines of computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering and electrical engineering. It has 60 seats in each discipline. The inspection committee, in its report, says. “There appears to be a complete chaos in the functioning of the college and the college has not been able to make any preparation for laboratories, staff, library books etc for the seventh and eighth semesters. Neither the principal nor the so-called managing committee members have committed anything regarding the availability of necessary facilities for conducting the semester classes. « « « The president of the MDUTA, Mr Wazir Singh Nehra, has been served with a show-cause notice for using “objectionable” language against the Vice-Chancellor and indulging in a vilification campaign against him through the Press to create “indiscipline among students, employees and the teaching community.” Defending his actions, Mr Nehra says as an elected president of the MDUTA it is his constitutional responsibility to raise voice in a democratic manner against any “arbitrary” action of the university authorities. In
“pursuance of these objectives, we have indicated
our principled opposition to certain definite
irregularities”, he explains. |
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