 |
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
|
Teaching her way to success Tough time for students as their fate hangs in balance Schools at stake
|
|
|
Teaching her way to success
An elegant young lady, she was adamant about not goint to US even after being selected by a team of American Educationists in March 2001 because of her orthodox family background and upbringing. Discarding the old saying that behind every successful man there is a woman, she was persuaded and inspired by her in-laws, her husband, her father and especially by her brother-in-law Sqn. Leader S.M. Tangri to take up the assignment. Also a mother of one-month-old daughter Lisa at that time, whom she has to leave behind, she somehow boosted herself and joined the school in September 2001. "It was a tough decision for me. I had to leave my daughter back home with my in-laws for more than a year. Although my school staff was very cooperative but being a mother I felt very lonely. Initially, I had no social life. But I am grateful to the people of Indian community there who came to know about me later and started helping me in whatever way they could", said Mansi with a twinkle in her eyes. Although, her husband Mr. Gurcharan Tangri joined Mansi after a month of her arrival in the United States her daughter joined her after more than a year. After three years this Jallandhar teacher has made an impact on the American school education system. She was among the 50 odd candidates selected from India out of hundreds of Indian aspirants and was the only one from Punjab. Nowadays she is doing projects and researches with NASA and has been selected for Research Programme in NASA. A born Jalandharite and alumni of St. Joseph Girls School, she completed her MSc in Chemistry from DAV College and B.Ed from M.G.N. College, Kapurthala. A year after she got married to Mr.Gurcharan Tangri, her brother-in-law Sq. Leader Tangri showed her an advertisement about an oportunity in teaching field in US, which she outrightly rejected but then she was destined to be. Sharing her experiences during her visit to her home city recently, she said that her first year there in a country of strangers was challenging because of different culture and attitude of students. But then her Indian upbringing helped her in ‘taming’ the students with affection and care. Praising the Indian students who are more respectful than their US counterparts because of Indian family system, she said that initially her students in America used to look at her as if she was there to earn money only. "After I told them that I had come to US, after leaving my young daughter back home just to teach them, they realised my commitment and became friendly and respectful", she added. Talking about the difference between Indian and US education system, Mansi, who is teaching 11th & 12th classes, said that advancement in every field of the education is the key in US as compare to our country. However, "the Indian students are more committed towards their studies than the US students" she added. "Most of the US students have their own problems. As most of them come from a single parent family, they earn while studying. So it becomes more tiring for them to do both the things together,"she reasoned. Meanwhile, Mr. Gurcharan who is now living with his wife in US on H-4 visa has a business here in Jalandhar. While staying in US, he has cleared the teaching certification course and is now likely to follow the footsteps of his beloved wife. Interestingly, Mansi once appeared for an interview here at a reputed school, was rejected because "someone approached the school authorities to take some senior officer’s relative as a teacher instead of her". When such is the state of affairs here then why do we rue about brain drain from India?
|
|
Tough time for students as their fate hangs in balance With the state government having failed to decide on awarding affiliation to nearly 170 private institutes running 11 vocational courses in Himachal Pradesh, the fate of nearly 28,540 students awaiting admissions now looks uncertain. This is despite the Education Minister, Ms Asha Kumari, announcing in the Assembly recently that the matter would be resolved in 10 days. Though the step had been initiated to check mushrooming of off-campus centres of various deemed universities running without the permission of the UGC, the State Council of Vocational Teaching (SCVT) has failed in its motive, given the little experience it has in conducting such an exercise. It has not only taken an extraordinary amount of time in inspecting the infrastructure of these institutes, but also left aspiring students in a quandary about their future. The state government is faced with a double-edged sword, as it can neither allow private institutes running as off-campus centres of deemed universities to offer these courses without the UGC consent nor refuse to take in students, who have been awaiting admission since September. The situation is alarming because most of these institutes are indeed running as off-campus centres without the mandatory UGC approval. The classes that usually commenced in October could not begin this year, as the SCTV decided to streamline private institutes by inspecting their infrastructure. The state government was worried at the manner in which several institutes running as off-campus centres had cheated thousands of students by offering sub-standard infrastructure. The inspection was to finish before the beginning of the new session in October. The SCVT had initially set up seven committees to inspect the premises of the nearly 170 institutes that had applied for recognition for their courses in October, 2004. The council had then sold 28,540 copies of the prospectus for 11 courses it had recognised. The committees took more than two months to come out with a report, and declared nearly 80 institutes fit for receiving recognition. This number later rose to 115 and pressure from private colleges was alleged to have led to this change. The report was, however, not accepted and it was alleged that the committee had been harsh while judging the institutes. The government then instituted a three-member committee headed by the Director, Technical Education, Mr R. D. Pawar, to look into the findings of the seven committees in November last year. The three-member committee submitted its report to the state government in December, 2004, but the latter is yet to finalise how many institutes have actually been granted recognition by the SCVT and permitted to run their own off-campus centres. With four months already having been lost in deciding the recognition issue, the students are yet to be counselled and it is still not clear how many institutes would get the nod to run these courses. What is causing unrest among students is that if they don't make it to any of these institutes, they stand to loose a full academic year. Adding to the woes of the SCVT was the recent decision of the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) to put on hold counselling session for students aspiring to be ayurvedic pharmacists. The council found 12 institutes lacking in infrastructure and the managements of these bodies were strictly told not to run these courses this session. The fact that none of these institutes had cared to raise the mandatory herbal garden made the NCVT put on hold their counselling sessions. The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, had
taken a strict view of the manner in which the off-campuses had been running
vocational courses in the state for several years now. He said such
unrecognised private institutes would not be allowed to fool the state's
youth. It remains to be seen how the government wriggles out from this uneasy
situation to the satisfaction of both students and the UGC. |
|
|
Schools at stake Ever since Chandigarh came into being, the sword of Damocles is hanging over the heads of hundreds of teachers and thousands of students of private schools for the middle class and lower middle class. Their fault is that they are working or studying in schools run from residential areas. Many of these were schools at one time and the others were recognised by the Education Department. The Census puts the density of schools and collages in the residential areas of the city to be only 0.31 per cent against the national average of 0.60 per cent. In Mizoram, this average is 1.88 per cent. Still, such an uncertainty prevails nowhere else, but in Chandigarh. In other states, these schools have been functioning for a much longer period, while harsh steps against such schools are now being taken in the city, SAS Nagar and Panchkula. These steps will render many teachers jobless and put many students out on the street. A large number of teachers in these institutions are now too old for joining the government service and private schools would not welcome these teachers for obvious reasons. Earlier, nursery-teacher training was only of one year, so many nursery teachers working in these schools are having only this basic qualification. Now the same course is of two years and the Administration is not prepared to look at this aspect when it advertises for the posts of nursery teacher. The Administration should change this rule. No new government schools are coming up where students from these schools could be accommodated and private-school education is just too expensive. Ever since the court decision, the Administration has only twice advertised for new school sites, which have not gone to the genuine local applicants who had been in queue for the past 30 years. Now even the local people don't want schools in residential areas. Ms Uma Wadhera, president of the Association of Private Educational Institutions, said norms had been relaxed to accommodate guesthouses, nursing homes, etc., in residential areas, but schools were ignored, even though these remained open only till 2 pm and created fewer nuisances. While the Education Department is trying to
obtain affidavits from these schools that no admission would be made in the
next academic session, the institutions have approached Mr Pawan Bansal, MP,
to get the policy relaxed till they are allotted new sites. The MP has written
to the Administrator in this regard. |
|
| HOME PAGE |
Armed Forces January 31 Indian Army, ADG of
Recruiting (Women Entry Sec), West Block-III, R K Puram, New Delhi
110066 Women Special Entry Scheme
(Officers) Eligibility:
Unmarried women/ issueless widows/divorcee of Defence personnel; Selectn: SSB interview, Psy Aptt Test Details: Website. February 10 Indian Army NCC Special Entry Scheme - Oct 2005 (SSC-NT, 5 yrs) OTA, Chennai Eligibility: Unmarried Indian male, Bachelor’s Deg (50%) + "B" grade in NCC "C" Cert Exam. Age: 19 - 25 yrs. Details: Employment News (25-31 Dec)/ Website. January 21 Indian Navy, P O Box No.
04, R.K. Puram PO (Main), New Delhi 110066 SSC Officers in Executive Branch (General Service) Eligibility: Indian male, BSc (Phys/ Maths) with or without NCC Naval Wing, Sr. Div ‘C’/ MSc (Phys or Maths; 55%)/ BE/ BTech/ BSc (Phys & Maths). Age: 19 ˝ - 25 yrs (DoB: 2 January ‘80-1 Jul ‘85) Selectn: SSB interview, Psy Test, Indvl Tasks, Group Tasks, GDs & Interview. Details: Employment News (25-31 Dec)/ Website. January 24 Indian Navy www.nausena-bharti.mil.in 1) Direct Entry Diploma Holders (3-yr) 2) Artificer Apprentices Eligibility: For 1: Unmarried Indian males, 3-yr Dip in Mech/ Elect/ Electron/ Telecom/ Aero/ Ship Bldg/ Instru/ Metallur Engg. (50%); DoB: 1 Aug ‘83 —31 Jul ’87. For 2: 10+2 (Phys & Maths; 55%) DoB: 1 Aug ‘85 —31 Jul ’88. Details: Employment News (January 1-07)/ Website. Engineering Central Tool Room &
Training Centre, B-36 Chandaka Industrial Area, Bhubaneshwar-751024 (M/o
SSI GoI) 1) Adv Dip in CNC Prog Tech & Practices (6-mth) 2) Cert Course in Master of CAD/CAM (5-mth) Eligibility: For 1 Dip
(Mech/ Prod Engg/Auto/ Manuf/Mould Making/Tool & Die Making) or
equiv Appln F: D’load from website. Details: Employment News (25-31 Dec)/ Website. January 15 Central Tool Room, A-5, Focal Point, Ludhiana 141010 www.ctrludhiana.com Certificate Course (Heat Treatment Trade) Eligibility: Cl 10 Selectn:
Merit in Cl 10, PI: January 18 (At CTR, Ludhiana) Details: Website. Directorate of Technical Education, Maharashtra, 3, Mahapalika Marg, PO Box No. 1967, Mumbai–400001 www.dte.org.in 1) MBA/ MMS Eligibility: 10+2 PCM with Eng (50%). Selectn: Entrance Test (For 1: 27 February ’05; For 2: 13 February ’05) Details: Website. IT February 4 Indian Institute of
Information Technology & Management, Park Centre, Technopark,
Thiruvananthapuram 695581 (Ker). PGDIT (18 mths) Eligibility: BE/ BTech/ MCA/ MSc (IT/ Comp Sc/Electron/ Maths/ Stats/ Phys; 60%). Selectn: All-India Entrance Test: 13 March ’05 (at 9 centres incld Del) & Interview. AppIn F: Send Rs 1000/- by DD fvg "Educational Consultants India Limited" payable at New Delhi by 28 January to "Project Manager (IIITM-K)’, Ed.CIL House, 18-A, Sec 16-A, NOIDA 201301 (UP). Write name, add on reverse of DD. Details: Website. Language January 31 Central Hindi Directorate, (MHRD, D/o Secondary & Higher Educn), West Block-7, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110 066 Basic Hindi (60 hrs, evng) Eligibility: Foreign Nationals and NRIs living in India. Appln F: Contact office at above add. Law March 15 National Law School of
India University, Nagarbhavi, PO Bag No. 7201, Bangalore 560072 (Kar) 1) Integrated BALLB (H) (5 – yr) 2) LLM (2-yr) Eligibility:
For 1: 10+2 (50%). Age Limit: 20 yrs (Jul 1, ‘05). Selectn: Admission test: 01 May ’05 (at 9 centres). Appln F: Send Rs 700/- by DD fvg "NLSIU" payable at B ’lore giving full add, pin code to the Registrar at above add. Superscribe name of course on env in bold letters. April 15 Symbiosis Society’s Law
College (SSLC), Senapati Bapat Road, Pune 411004 5-Yr Law Course 2005-‘06 Eligibility: 10 +2 (55%). Selectn: All India Entrance Test: 7 May, (at 11), Interview. Appln F: Send Rs 1850/- by DD fvg "The Principal, Symbiosis Law College, Senapati Bapat Rd, Pune 411004" to above add/ d’load from website. Management January 9 Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad. Distance Learning courses 1) 3-yr MBA with specialisation in Marketing, HRD, Finance, International Business, Merchant Banking, Operations and Systems. 2) 2-yr MMM. 3) 2-yr Masters in Human Recourses Management 4) 2-yr Masters in Supply Chain Management Elig: 10+2 Witn 5-yr working experience or graduate in any discipline Details: 0161-2421520, 9814153399 imt_ldh@rediffmail.com April 30 Indian Institute of Health
Management Research, 1, Prabhu Dayal Marg, Sanganer Airport, Jaipur 302011
(Raj) PG Diploma in Hospital Mgt/Health Mgt; (2-yr, FT) Eligibility: Bachelor’s deg (50%). Selectn: GD, PI. Appln F: Send Rs 250/- by DD fvg "IIHMR, Jaipur" or d’load from website. Medicine January 31 Himachal Pradesh University, Entrance Tests Cell, Summer Hill, Shimla 171005. (HP) MD/MS (In Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla) Eligibility: MBBS. Test: 27 February ‘05 Appln F: Send Rs 1100/- by DD fvg "Finance Office, H.P. University, Shimla- 5" to above add by 10 January ‘05. January 14 University of Delhi, F/O
Medical Sciences, VP Chest Institute Bldg, Delhi-110 007. PG Medical Entrance Test (PGMET) For admission to PG Degree/ Diploma programmes Exam: 19 February ‘05. Appln F: Send Rs. 650/- by DD fvg "Registrar, University of Delhi" payable at Del with self-add env (10" x 8") to above add. Details: Employment News (January 01-07)/ Website. — Pervin Malhotra, Director, CARING, New Delhi.
|
We
all have ambitions to do something worthwhile in life. For ourselves,
for our family and for our country. But very few are able to fulfill
their ambitions because of various reasons. However, here is one woman
who has achieved something, which she had never thought about. She is
Mrs. Mansi Tangri, a teacher in John. F. Kennedy High School under
Cleveland Municipal School District in Cleveland, Ohio of the United
States. She is also a member of Chemical Safety Programme of the Ohio
state. So what is so special about her?