 |
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
|
Homesick and home bound
Computers for
empowerment
|
|
|
Homesick and home bound Going abroad seems to have become the ultimate goal of the average Punjabi youth and host of foreign universities and colleges offering an array of courses for an average student have come forth to fulfil that desire. The exodus in the garb of so-called higher education has left many households in Punjab without a young man back home. So mad is the rush that even extraordinarily brilliant and below-average students find themselves applying for admission to foreign colleges and universities. In this rat race, students force their parents to set aside a huge portion of their assets to pave the way for their sojourn abroad. The hidden goal of the students and their consenting parents is to settle the young man abroad and not give him just education. Given the rampant unemployment, ambitious parents book their children on flights to Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Canada or the USA soon after they leave the school. The less privileged fly out to Russia, Cyprus, Malaysia, Ireland and the other such nations. The trend of a large number of Indian students seeking admission to foreign universities started about a decade ago. Laced with degrees and faced with unemployment, students found it best to migrate to Europe. Slowly, the dream has started turning sour. Accustomed to a life of homely comforts, Indian students studying abroad have started packing their bags midway during the course to catch that flight back home, even though this decision would wreck their parents. Students, after a few months of landing abroad, develop withdrawal symptoms when the Utopia of their dreams turns out to be a barren land with bitter realities of life. Carefree teenagers who, back home, roamed about the city on a motor cycles, find that the supper they relished at home in India had to be first cooked to be eaten. Many students, to save hostel expenses, arrange for a pooled accommodation outside and prepare their own food. The drudgery of daily cooking and other chores bring forth harsh realities. Harman, after finishing his 3-year Bachelor of Computer-aided Management course went to Australia to study management and got a part-time job of packing oranges in an orchid. The rigours of study, daily cooking and washing coupled with a tough job made him a daily grinding mill. Soon, homesickness started descending and one morning he caught a flight for home, leaving the course midway, much to the disappointment of his parents. Harman now works in a private firm in Mohali where he gets a meagre salary. Homesickness is one of the major depressants students fail to cope with during their stay abroad. R. P. Singh of Amritsar, after graduation, was keen to enter a university in England, but got disheartened when denied study visa on two occasions. He secured a British visa through a resourceful education counsellor, but the euphoria soon evaporated. On the day of Lohri, he repeatedly rang home to know how the celebrations were going. He talked to his friends about how flew kites and had bonfires in Amritsar. He became so forlorn that his mother had to rush to England to look after her son till the completion of his course. Raman, who went for higher study to Calagy in Canada, found out that what he harboured was a paper dream. Severe cold prevailed there, as the land was snow-bound for most part of the year. Raman returned to India after just two months, but his parents made his go back. A disillusioned Raman now waits for the day his course would conclude and he would return home. Even for students opting to study there, it is difficult to get a decent full-time job abroad. Unless one has a job, a student is not allowed to stay in that country after the completion of the course. On landing in India, he finds that jobs are not necessarily available on a platter in India for a foreign-returned student. Parents ask the student to hang around there after studies in the hope of a job or matrimonial offer. If both come easy, then the student will stay on. It is a different matter that this will make his parents poorer by a few lakh rupees.
|
|
Computers for
empowerment
Nawanshahr: The administration has given a new
dimension to the Integrated Computer Training (ICT) Project, under which,
students in the government schools of this district get computer education. Mr
Krishan Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, has drafted a comprehensive plan to
optimally utilise the huge infrastructure in government schools for women’s
empowerment. Computer classes in evening have been introduced for girls who
having cleared the class XII examination. The girls would learn basics for
three months and be able to pick up jobs later. In the first phase, a special computer-training course has been introduced in Government Senior Secondary School and Doaba Arya Senior Secondary School here and 60 girls have joined the course. The scheme is being implemented in all schools under the ICT project. Mr Krishan Kumar says that laboratories have been set up and teachers have been posted in 94 schools under the ICT project launched last year in the district. During his visits to schools, he realised that the infrastructure there can be used for giving computer education to girls who have completed their school education, but are sitting idle. The schools are being given small power generators to ensure that the computer classes should run smoothly even during power cuts. Mr Krishan Kumar, who launched anti female foeticide drive in the state, says that optimum utilisation of the ICT project will ensure self-reliance of girls and bring in a change in the mindset of the people to end gender-based discrimination.
|
|
|
CAMPUS NOTE
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Husbandry University (GADVAHU), Ludhiana, has conducted the first entrance test for admission to the five-year B.VSc course on July 7 and brought out the merit list within two days of the examination. The classes are likely to begin in a couple of days. The High Court had earlier stayed the setting up of the university. However, the stay was vacated and the Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, inaugurated it with word that it would usher in another White Revolution in Punjab.
— VS
|
|
|
ADMISSION DEADLINE
Territorial Army, Army Headquarters, ‘L’ Block, New Delhi 110001 www.joinindianarmy.nic.in/arcar.htm / www.indarmy.nic.in /
www.mod.nic.in Indian Navy, PO Bag No. 04, RK Puram PO (Main), New Delhi 110066 www.nausena-bharti.nic.in
Officer in Technical Branch (SSC) UES - August 2007 Course Art & Design
National Institute of Jewellery Design & Technology, HTVTC Building, Shri Maa Anandmayee Marg, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi 110020 (promoted by Delhi State Industrial Development Corp Ltd) www.dsidc.org Engineering
NSIC Technical Services Centre, Ekkaduthangal, Chennai 600032 (TN) (GoI) IT
Centre for Information Technology, SISI Extension Centre, Connaught Circus, New Delhi 110001 (M/o SSI / Communication & IT, GoI & CDAC-Noida)
www.cdacnoida.in/cit Recruitment
Indian Overseas Bank, Central Office, 763, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002 (TN) www.iob.com Scholarships
National Council of Science Museums, Block-GN, Sector V, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata 700091 (WB) (M/o Tourism & Culture, GoI) www.ncsm.gov.in/ Vocational
Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Sector-28-C, Chandigarh |
|
| HOME PAGE |
|
