Good schools an exception in Haryana
Raman Mohan
The quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) or pre-schooling in Haryana leaves much to be desired. Though government and private preschools are in abundance, most of these lack proper infrastructure for this important phase of educating a child.

Identity theft plagues US colleges
Despite their image as leafy enclaves of higher learning shielded from the real world, universities across the United States are finding themselves on the front lines of the battle against identity theft.

Campus Notes
Experimenting with colours
An exhibition on paintings by 16 students of the university was held at S. Mota Singh Memorial Arts Institute, Patiala, from August 9 to 16. The paintings were by postgraduate students of the Department of Fine Arts, made during the session of 2004-05.

• Campus recruitment

IIT-Madras to get Centre for Manufacturing Excellence status
Coimbatore: The Indian Institute of Technology. Madras, is likely to get the status of Centre of Manufacturing Excellence soon, its director, Prof. M. S. Ananth, has said.

• ADMISSION DEADLINE

Good schools an exception in Haryana
Raman Mohan

The quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE) or pre-schooling in Haryana leaves much to be desired. Though government and private preschools are in abundance, most of these lack proper infrastructure for this important phase of educating a child.

A study conducted by Ms Ranjana Sharma, a senior lecturer in Home Science at the Fateh Chand College for Women, Hisar, for her Ph.D thesis submitted to the University of Delhi, shows that though private enterprises have taken up initiative for pre-school education in the urban areas in a big way, most of these institutions are being run on commercial lines.

It was found that both government and private pre-schools were being run mostly from dilapidated premises lacking play space and facilities for indoor activities. The school heads and teachers were unaware that the National Council for Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) prescribes some norms for starting a pre-school. The teachers were found to be either untrained or inappropriately trained for their jobs. No doubt they were getting meagre salaries.

The teachers were neither involved in planning pre-school programmes nor allowed to modify it if they so desired. This not only influenced learning environment for children, but was also the main cause of lack of motivation, interest and initiative among teachers. Even the school heads were unable to provide leadership since they were also not trained for their jobs. There were no efforts to organise or attend staff skill improvement programmes.

The study which covered pre-schools in Hisar as a sample revealed that the participation of parents in pre-school programmes was extremely poor. Owing to a lack of proper perception of ECE they insisted that pre-schools teach more of academics to their children rather than develop their learning and logical thinking skills. Thus, pre-school education had been reduced to the rote method which did not augur well for the young learners.

Almost no school building had been designed with the age of children in mind. In lavatories, the sinks had been fitted at the adult height and children were unable to use it for maintaining personal hygiene. Blackboards and charts were displayed at inappropriate heights and directions. This affected the children’s learning processes.

However, the study also noticed some strengths of the existing system. It appreciated that in the absence of adequate number of government pre-schools, private trusts or individuals had taken upon themselves the responsibility of providing pre-school education. Despite the shortcomings and very small overall gains, children had still benefited from these institutions.

Another positive aspect was that these schools were located within walking distance of colonies served by these schools. A few private pre-schools had suitably qualified staff, infrastructure and a healthy environment. Such institutions were doing their best to meet NCERT standards.

Ms Sharma says that the primary need is to ensure that pre-schools are not just established but that these meet the basic requirements specified by the NCERT. Compulsory licensing, accreditation and regular monitoring can ensure quality and check the rampant commercialisation of pre-school education. “It does not matter if these schools grow in phases. But grow they must. The private sector involvement in pre-schooling is welcome. But this should not be without adequate guidance from educators and institutions. Only then can we ensure quality,” she says.

The study underlines the need for proper training of school heads and teachers. It found that schools with trained heads scored much better in indicators of ECE than those headed by untrained persons. This was mainly because the teachers could not counteract the effects of poor curriculum and inappropriate practices of teaching the 3 Rs as demanded by school heads, managements and parents.

The study found that the shortage of nursery trained teachers was the main cause for appointing untrained teachers. There are not enough institutions to train these teachers. It suggests that private institutions should take the initiative for introducing training programmes for nursery teachers. It also suggests that the primary responsibility for maintaining quality of ECE should lie with the Education and Women and Child Development departments.

According to Ms Sharma, parents need to change their perception of a good pre-school. She says she noticed that parents made their choice on the basis of fee charged rather than take into account facilities and programmes. Besides, she also suggests that parents should play a more proactive role in the pre-schooling of their children.

Identity theft plagues US colleges 

Despite their image as leafy enclaves of higher learning shielded from the real world, universities across the United States are finding themselves on the front lines of the battle against identity theft.

With their huge databases, universities may rival financial institutions as attractive targets for the crime, estimated to affect over nine million Americans a year at the total cost of more than $50 billion, said Reuters, quoting experts.

Nearly half of the publicised incidents of data breach since January occurred at universities, according to the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center.

The focus on campus computer security comes as pending legislation in Congress seeks to address on a national level the growing problem of identity theft, in which criminals steal personal information so they can impersonate the victim to obtain credit and drain money from financial accounts.

In academia, major institutions like the University of California system and smaller private schools from Tufts to Stanford are equally affected as hackers exploit computer vulnerabilities to access sensitive data and laptops get stolen.

The problem is hardly new, but available data are incomplete. California, for example, only recently starting to require disclosure after a data breach. Some experts say that universities only contribute to 20 percent of all breaches nationally.

"(Universities) are certainly getting a collective black eye," said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego non-profit group Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "I suspect there's a lot of hand-wringing in universities these days. Those in the IT departments are starting to tell administrators, 'See, I told you so, we have to have better control.'"

Universities provide a target-rich environment for identity thieves-an abundance of computer equipment filled with sensitive data and a pool of financially naive students.

Campus Notes
Punjabi University, Patiala
Experimenting with colours

An exhibition on paintings by 16 students of the university was held at S. Mota Singh Memorial Arts Institute, Patiala, from August 9 to 16. The paintings were by postgraduate students of the Department of Fine Arts, made during the session of 2004-05.

The students experimented with different mediums and colours. Styles varied from realistic to modern to abstract art.

The students whose works were displayed were Tanu (Life, Flying Elephant), Surinder (Time), Satleen (Mystery, Solace), Kamal (Enjoy, Bara Maha), Vinod (Basant), Sapna (Festival), Navpreet (Basant, Destruction), Rajinder (Mudras), Mandeep (Different Moods) and Pushpinder (Basant). Mr S. K. Ahluwalia, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Patiala, inaugurated the exhibition, while Dr Saroj Chaman, Chairperson, Department of Fine Arts, was the guest of honour.

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar

Campus recruitment

Avaya Global Connect, a US-based multinational telecom company, has selected 2007 batch B. Tech students for the company. Dr Rajneesh Arora, placement officer, GNDU, informed that 80 per cent placement of the students of the 2006 batch belonging to MCA, B. Tech (computer), B. Tech (electronics) and other streams on the GNDU campus have already been completed. He said the students even have options before them as more and more multinational companies were coming for campus interviews.

Rubinder Gill at Patiala and Pawan Kumar at Amritsar

IIT-Madras to get Centre for
Manufacturing Excellence status

Coimbatore: The Indian Institute of Technology. Madras, is likely to get the status of Centre of Manufacturing Excellence soon, its director, Prof. M. S. Ananth, has said.

“As the manufacturing engineering is taking off in a big way, India requires more design engineers and once the IIT gets this status, the manufacturing sector can avail itself of the services of the IIT,” Prof Ananth told newsmen in a brief chat at the Karunya Institute of Technology (KIT), on the outskirts. “The institute has introduced a dual five-year degree — bachelor of design engineering and masters of automotive technology —with 30 seats, from this year,” he said. — PTI

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September 3
Indian Navy, PO Bag 04, R.K. Puram PO (Main), New Delhi 110066
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August 25
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September 15
Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering, Sec 15, Plot No 103, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400614
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October 14
Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management (M/o Tourism & Culture, GoI), Govindpuri, Gwalior (MP)
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November 25

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December 6

Army Institute of Management (AIM), Judges Court Road, Opp Alipore Telephone Exchange, Alipore, Kolkata 700027 (WB) (Affil to WB Univ of Tech)
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November 20
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September 24
XLRI, School of Management, C H Area (E) Jamshedpur-831001
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November 30
Nirma Institute of Management, Nirma University, S - G Highway, Ahmedabad 382481
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August 26
Fore School of Management, B-18, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016
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August 30
School of Nursing, General Hospital, Sec 16, Chandigarh (Health Deptt, Chandigarh Admin)

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August 31

State Institute of Nursing & Para-Medical Sciences, Badal, Distt. Muktsar (Punj)

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All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029
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October 1

The Scindia School, Fort, Gwalior 474008 (MP)
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August 31
National Institute of Social Defence (M/ o Soc Justice & Empowerment, GoI), Old Age Care Division, West Block 1, Wing 3, 1st Fl, R K Puram, New Delhi 110066
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August 31

Jamia Hamdard, Directorate of Open & Distance Learning, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062 (Deemed Univ)
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