Spare the rod and save the child
Geetinder Brar Garewal
Imagine your boss, spouse, or any adult who has the authority over you, is legally allowed to thrash you and to make matters worse still this person is 10-12 feet tall and weighs 150 kg.... Now you cannot avoid him/her and everyday brings opportunities of incurring this giant’s wrath........

Caught in the Web of learning
Peeyush Agnihotri
“Papa! Papa!” a fourth-grader comes home squealing breathlessly. “Madam has given as a 500-word assignment on “Your Favourite Sports Personality.” Mine is Sachin Tendulkar and I’ll write his biography and professional history. Papa will you please help me out?”

ADMISSION DEADLINE

RED ALERT !!

Spare the rod and save the child
Geetinder Brar Garewal

Imagine your boss, spouse, or any adult who has the authority over you, is legally allowed to thrash you and to make matters worse still this person is 10-12 feet tall and weighs 150 kg.... Now you cannot avoid him/her and everyday brings opportunities of incurring this giant’s wrath........

This is not a script for a horror movie, but the daily reality for millions of school children. A child perceives the world vis-a-vis his own size. Try to look at a child’s world through his/her eyes and then decide if we must carry on the barbaric practice of corporal punishment in schools.

Today most people agree that violence affects children’s minds adversely. But, paradoxically, parents who cringe at violence on TV and fear it on the streets are ambivalent about their kids being officially exposed to it at school.

Violence begets violence. Children are taught by authority — wielding adults, that violence is an acceptable response to inappropriate behaviour. Little wonder these children grow up to be violent parents and teachers too.

A typical product of an authoritarian childhood is likened to a cyclist — he bends from above and kicks from below. Don’t you find this to be true of the average Indian in today’s world? But more importantly, do we want to perpetuate this syndrome into the future?

In the past, stress levels were low and, hence, school teachers could resort to occasional caning and get away minimal negative fallout. But the scenario is not so today. A teacher reaches school overloaded with stress and has to face a class of 50-60 students which is beyond the ideal recommended number. Naturally as the day advances his/her self-control is giving away and hitting out at children, who cannot retaliate, is the perfect way to release pressure.

Defenders of corporal punishment, who consider it a necessary last resort, do not realise that it is more often than not the first resort for minor misbehaviours. This in turn perpetuates a cycle of child abuse. It teaches children to hit someone smaller and weaker when angry. So violence spills out of the classrooms into the playgrounds where again the child who is merely repeating what he learnt in class is hauled up for a fresh round of thrashing and the poor mite does not know what he did wrong.

This cycle repeated over years makes for violent teens and schools that use corporal punishment often have poorer academic achievement records, more vandalism, truancy, pupil violence and higher drop-out rates.

A new teacher, in a school that uses corporal punishment liberally, was appalled when she was caught in a hailstorm of chalks as she turned to write on the blackboard of a senior class.

The pent-up violence is turned on the teachers when hormones surge and children realise that they have dwarfed the childhood giants.

Corporal punishment in schools is, perhaps, one of the few spheres where gender balance is titled in favour of girls. Boys are invariably targeted for beatings and little wonder that they play havoc in senior classes.

A perceptive little girl once remarked that teachers in charge of discipline in group assemblies seldom scolded the seniors because they were ‘afraid of them’. Schools are the only institutions in which striking another person is legally sanctioned. It is not allowed in prisons, in the military, or in mental hospitals.

Many alternatives to corporal punishment have proven their worth. These include realistic rules consistently enforced, conferences with students for planning acceptable behaviour, use of school psychologists, detentions and rewarding positive behaviour in students. Alternatives are meant to teach children to be self-disciplined rather than cooperate because of fear.

Teachers need discipline too. The key to the whole mess lies in holding stress-release and anger-transforming workshops for teachers as well as children. Every classroom should have children’s rights clearly displayed and written in a way that the youngest child can understand.

A car sticker sums it all up — “People are not for hitting, kids are people too”.

Caught in the Web of learning
Peeyush Agnihotri

“Papa! Papa!” a fourth-grader comes home squealing breathlessly. “Madam has given as a 500-word assignment on “Your Favourite Sports Personality.” Mine is Sachin Tendulkar and I’ll write his biography and professional history. Papa will you please help me out?” There is a sense of urgency in the child’s voice.

Poor Papa. From where is he to know when did Sachin make his debut, when and where was he born, his career graph et al. So the wisest (and the most sensible) thing that he does is to go off to a cyber cafe (in case he doesn’t have a Net connection at home or office) to download relevant stuff so that the brat may submit the assignment in time.

Work done. Episode forgotten. Papa and the chip off the old block get down to their respective chores. Just until the next time such a thing happens all over again. Of course, the topic may be entirely different. Whether it is on freedom struggle or animal reproduction, the modus operandi remains the same.

This has become common occurrence in every household that has public schoolgoing kids. Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, ad nauseam. Teachers give projects, children pass it off to their parents who in turn seek Net’s refuge and the completed assignment then gathers dust in the school’s staff room. Needless to say the junior gets Grade A+ for the work he never did.

The question is — Where has the learning process takes place?

In the pre-WWW era, which was not very long ago, a school assignment was a much-revered task. It used to be a full-week project for the school kids who then used to visit libraries, gloss over journals, read newspapers and lap up relevant magazines. That way the student would learn a few more things. These days the cut-and-paste method has replaced information imbibing.

Cyber cafes are growing voraciously like water hyacinth choking the vast sea of libraries and other community-based reading rooms en route. At least five new cyber cafes spring up in one month in metros and B-class cities. Has anyone lately heard of a library coming up in the city or vicinity?

The Net is a useful tool. Though it can be touted as the intellectual Swiss knife yet, undisputedly, it is stomping on students’ innovativeness, desire to learn and their initiative. The urge to run around and gather information is dying.

The underlying essence of a school project is not to compile the scientific background of the new President or for that matter the number of test centuries of a cricketer. A teacher is hardly bothered about it. A project is meant to stir a student intellectually so that he is able to trace the right source of information and collate the result. When, how and where are the milestones that he or she will pass through subconsciously. A process that may come handy in future.

Even parents abroad, where a Net connection is as much a household component as a LPG cylinder in our country, agree that Web affects the natural learning process. Fortynine per cent of the parents claim using the Internet might interfere with the parents’ ability to teach values and beliefs, 42 per cent believe that too much of Net can cause a child to develop anti-social behaviour and 72 per cent say that the kids use the Net too often to do home-work.

Heard of a physics teacher who used to give full marks to the student with the most soiled, dog-earned and seemingly too-much-used notebook in practical examination? His logic was that while the grubby notebooks indicated that they were used the year around, relatively spic-and-span ones pointed at their being made just weeks before the practical exam.

Though his theory might have chinks, yet present-day teachers should use an analogous way to assess a project report. And as far as parents are concerned, well they are still at a loss to figure out whether the Net is a dream or a nightmare.

Oct 11: Indian Army, (Zonal Recruitment Office)

Religious Teachers (Pundits, Granthis, Buddhist Monks) as JCOs (RRT 37 & RRT 38)

Elig: 27-34 yrs.

Selectn: Screening followed by written exam (22 Dec ‘02) & Interview.

Appln F: Employment News (17-23 Aug).

Oct 5: Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Integrated Rural Energy Planning & Dev, (M/o Non-Conventional Energy Sources, & G/o NCT, Del) Bakoli, Alipur, Delhi 110036 Ph: (011) 7201029/33

www.mgidelhi.renewables.org

PG Dip in Integrated Rural Energy Tech (1-yr)

Elig: BE/BTech (Mech/Civil/ Chem/Elect/Agri)/MSc (Phy).

Selectn: Interview (Oct 22 & 23).

Appln F: Send Rs 200/- by DD favouring "Director, MGIIREPD" payable at Delhi with stamped (Rs 40/-), self-add env (27 x 12 cms) and self-add, stamped PC to the Director at above add by Sep 23. At counter: Rs 200/- (cash) by Oct 5.

Details: Employment News (24-30 Aug).

Oct 25: Jt Management Entrance Test (JMET-2002) for PG Degree Prog in Mgt at IITs & IISc (FT, 2-yr; PT, 3-yr)

http://gate.iitm.ac.in; www.gate.iisc.ernet.in; iitd.ac.in; iitk.ac.in/gate/jmet; cc.iitb.ac.in/gate; iitg.ernet.in; iitkgp.ernet.in/~gate; iitr.ernet.in

Test: 15 Dec at 35 centers (under 8 Zones)

Appln F: Send Rs 800/- by DD favouring the concerned Institute, with two self-add slips, to concerned Chairman-GATE.

Details: Resp websites.

Nov 15: Indian Institute of Management (IIM-L), Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Rd, Lucknow 226013

Fellow Prog in Mgt

(Bus Environ; Decision Sc; Fin & Contr; HRM; IT & Sys; Mktg; Op Mgt; Strategic Mgt)

Elig: Master’s degree (55%) or BE/BTech (I Div) with 1-yr wk ex. Age: Below 45 yrs (on 30 Jun’03).

Selectn: CAT-2002/FPM Admission Test (15 Dec) for cands with 5-yr mgt teaching/wk ex.

Appln F: Send Rs 1,000/-by DD favouring "IIM Lucknow" payable at Lucknow to the FPM Office at above add. If applying for CAT, enclose copy of purchase receipt for free form.

Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (IILM), Lodhi Rd, New Delhi 110003. Ph: 4647820. www.iilm.edu

PG Dip in Bus Mgt (2-yr)

Elig: Bachelor’s degree.

Selectn: CAT-2002 Scores, GD, Interview.

Appln F: Send Rs. 600/- by DD favouring "IILM" payable at New Delhi by 15 Dec. At counter: Rs 550/- (cash) or download from website. At specified IOB Br: Kanpur, L ‘know, Dehradun, B ‘lore, Chennai, Patna, Guwahati, Ambala, Varanasi, Puri, Berhampur.

Dec 15: XLRI, PB 222, CH Area (E), Jamshedpur 831001

www.xlri.edu/xatregister

1) PG Prog in PM & IR, Bus Mgt (2-yr, FT)

2) Exec PG Prog (3-yr, PT)

3) Fellow Prog in Mgt

Elig: For 1: Bachelor’s degree; For 2: Bachelor’s degree & 2 yrs wk ex. For 3: Master’s degree (55%)/ BE/BTech (60%) & 3 yrs wk ex.

Selectn: XAT-2003 (Jan 5).

Appln F: Apply online by Nov 30 for XAT-2003, obtain XAT ID and apply online for XLRI.

Details: Website.

Jan 15: K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, Vidyanagar, Vidyavihar (E), Mumbai 400077. Ph: (022) 5106552, 5140006

www.simsr.com

PG Prog in Mgt Studies (2-yr)

Elig: Bachelor’s degree (50%).

Selectn: CAT-2002 scores, GD, Interview.

Appln F: Send Rs. 950/- by DD favouring "K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research" payable at M’bai to above add by 10 Jan or download from website.

Oct 5: Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum 695011 (Ker)

http://sctimst.ker.nic.in or http://sctims.ac.in

1) PhD

Biochem, Biomaterials, Cellular & Molecular Cardiol, Chronic Disease Epidemiol, Health Eco, Health Policy Analysis, Gender Issues in Health, Implant Biol, Med Anthropol, Health Sys Res, Neurol, Pathol, Poly Sc, Radiol & Thrombosis Res

2) DM/MCh (3-yr)

DM: Cardiol, Neurol, Neuroradiol

MCh: Cardio & Thoracic Surg, Neurosurg, Neurosurg (5-yr)

3) Post Doctoral Cert (1-yr)

Cardio & Neurological Anaesthesiol, Neuro & Vascular Radiol, Vascular Surg

4) Master of:

Public Health (18-mth), Appld Epidemiol (2-yr)

5) Post DM/MCh Fellowship

Cardiol, Cardio & Thoracic Surg, Neurology & Neurosurg

6) Cert (1-yr)

Cardio & Thoracic Nursing, Neuro Nursing

7) Dip (2-yr)

Cardiac Lab Tech, OT Tech, Neuro Tech, Adv Med Imaging Tech, Med Records Sc, Clinical Perfusion, Blood Banking Tech.

Elig & Appln F: Website

Sep 23: Gujarat State Level Eligibility Test for Lecturership 2002 (in 22 subjs conducted by M S Univ of Baroda, Vadodra)

www.msubaroda.ac.in / htpp://slet.msubaroda.ac.in

Elig: Master’s Degree in relev subjs (55%)/PhD.

Exam: Dec 1.

Appln F: Send Rs 650/- by DD (write yr name, DoB, add, Date of Exam & Subj Code on reverse) favouring "Corporation Bank (GSLET)", payable at Vadodara to Corporation Bank, Pratik Chambers, Ground Fl., Dandia Bazar, Vadodra 390001 by 20 Sep. At select Corporation Bank counters: Rs 600/- (cash).

Details: Employment News (24-30 Aug).

Oct 30: Guru Ghasidas University, Institute of Distance Education, Bilaspur 495009 (Chhatt)

1) BCA, BBA, BSc (IT) (3-yr)

2) BJMC, B Lib I Sc (1-yr)

3) PG Dip (Comp Appln; e-Com; SW Engg; Busi Mgt; Mktg Mgt; Ind Rel & LW&PM, 1-yr)

4) M Lib I Sc (1-yr)

Elig: For 1: Class 12.

For 2 & 3: Bachelor’s degree.

For 4: B Lib ISc.

Appln F: Send Rs 170/- by DD favouring "Registrar, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur 495009 (Chatti)" to above add. At counter: Rs 125/- (cash).

Oct 30: Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Institute of Distance Education, Sagar 470003 (MP)

1) MLISc

2) BLISc

3) Master of Comm & Journalism

4) Bachelor of Comm & Journalism

5) PG Dip (Environ Mgt; Mktg Mgt; Personnel Mgt; Crimonol & Police Admin)

Elig: For 1: BLISc.

For 2, 4 & 5: Bachelor’s degree.

For 3: BCJ.

Appln F: Send Rs 225/- by DD favouring "Registrar, Dr. H.S. Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar", payable at SBI (Br. Code 1143) with stamped (Rs 35/-), self-add env (9"x5") to the Director at above add.

Sep 30: Maharshi Dayanand University, Directorate of Distance Education, Rohtak

1) MBA (3-yr)

2) MCA (3-yr)

(Lat 1: sem 3; Lat 2: Sem 5)

3) BBA (CAM, 3-yr)

Elig: For 1 & 2: Bachelor’s degree. For 2: Lat 1: Bachelor’s degree & APGDCA/APGDIT/ PGDCA/PGDCS. For 2: Lat 2: MSc (Comp Sc)/MCS. For 3: Class 12.

Appln F: Send Rs 350/- by DD favouring "Finance Officer, MD University, Rohtak" to the Dy. Regisrar, Publication Cell at above add. At counter: Rs 300/- (cash)

Sep 30: Madhya Pradesh Bhoj (Open) Univ, Red Cross Bhawan, Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal 462016

Master’s degree:

MCA; MBA; MBA (Materials Mgt); MSc (IT) (also Lat Entry); MSc (Comp Sc); MLIS; MPA; MA (Ancient Indian Hist, Cul & Archaeol); MA (Eco/Pol Sc/Sociol/Hist); MSc (Phy/ Chem/ Maths/ Bot/Zool); Mcom (Acc/Mgt)

Bachelor’s degree:

BCA; BBA; BSc (IT); BSc; BCom; BA

PG Dip: Bio-Informatics; Comp Appln; Hosp & Health Mgt; Dietetics & Therapeutic Nutri; HRM; Fin Mgt; OM; Mktg Mgt; Busi Admin; Tourism & Hotel Mgt.

Adv PG Dip: Comp Appln; Busi Admin

Dip: Bus Admin; Mgt; Comp Appln; Communicative Eng

Cert: Comp Oper; Comp Appln; Communicative Eng

Appln F: Send Rs 175/- by DD (write name, add & course on reverse) favouring "Registrar, MPBOU, Bhopal" to above add. At counter: Rs 150/- (cash).

Pervin Malhotra, Director CARING (www.careerguidanceindia.com)

RED ALERT !!