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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Women score high in literacy rate
PG studies without graduation?
Interactive tools add fun to learning
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Women score high in literacy rate The distressing fact about the killing of unborn daughters that is still widespread in the state has eclipsed the major achievement in women’s education. In fact, the tradition of female education in Punjab is an old one. Bhai Takhat Singh started Sikh Kanya Mahavidalya, Ferozepore, in 1890. The first boarding school for girls opened in 1894. A school for women was started in Barnala by Bibi Pardhan Kaur, daughter of Baba Ala Singh, the founder of Patiala dynasty. Educated women were looked up to, and in villages, women of families that could afford the expenses were sent to school and college for education. At the turn of the 20th century, many women attended college. Because of cultural sensitivities, most of the girls were sent to colleges that were set up exclusively for them, and thus you have such fine institutions that trace their origins to pre-Independence days as Sarup Rani Government College for Women, Amritsar (established in 1932), Government College for Girls, Patiala (1942), Government College for Women, Ludhiana (1943), and Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar (established at Lahore in 1927, shifted to Jalandhar in 1948). While the British Indian government set up the basic infrastructure for modern education in India, the Singh Sabha and DAV movements, as well as the Sikh Education Society run by the Chief Khalsa Diwan, all emphasised the need to set up educational institutions for the uplift of women. Punjabi women have done the state proud by their achievements. Mrs Serla Grewal, a Panjab University student, reached the top in the civil service, starting from the office of Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, to become the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Mrs Inderjit Kaur Sandhu, who studied at Lahore and Patiala, was Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi. Dr Kiran Bedi, a former student of GCW, Amritsar, reached the top of the Indian Police Service.The late Mrs Beant Kaur was India's first woman pilot. Creatively, women have done extremely well. The late Amrita Pritam and Dilip Kaur Tiwana are among the top eminent writers in Punjabi. Rani Balbir Kaur and Neelam Man Singh have successfully straddled the world of academia and Punjabi theatre. Amrita Sher-Gil was a legendary artist. Delhi-based writer Ajeet Cour and her artist daughter, Arpna Cour, are rooted in Punjabi culture. Many of the people who rose high in their profession came from rural areas, though often they had to get to urban centres for their education. Today, there are many rural colleges too, which have excellent educational facilities. In a study of the changing lifestyle and social transformation of rural Jat Sikh women in Punjab, Dr Amarinder Sandhu, a sociologist, found that an increasing number of people send their daughters to school. Once they are educated, women withdraw from farm work, and seek career options, especially in teaching and nursing. She found that people look at education as an investment which helps their daughters in gainful employment, fetches them a better match and helps them in cases of separation or widowhood. However, but many lamented that if the daughters are educated too much, it becomes difficult to find a suitable match. Education has also led to a sharp increase in the age when girls get married. Interestingly, she also found that people educate daughters more than the sons; because they say that the returns are going to be good, “because boys know that they can fall back on property, whereas the girls just want to get out of the rural ethos.” The NSSO study supports this finding, since the male literacy rate in Punjab (85 urban, 75 rural) is below the national average. “Girls are being educated to work, though the desire to have a girl child is generally still not there,” says Lucy Haugh, who has studied women, both in India and in her native US since 1965. She has touched a raw nerve there. Along with the high literacy rate has come the news that Punjab still has a shameful record of a high female foeticide rate. Only when this stops can it be said that the Punjabis are truly educated in the real sense of the word!
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PG studies without graduation? EVEN if you are not a graduate, you may be eligible for pursuing post-graduation programmes if the recommendations of a UGC committee are accepted. In the path-breaking proposal and in line with the Western education system, the committee headed by UGC member Professor Xavier Alphonse has suggested that students without completing their degree courses can get admission to PG programmes through lateral entry under the Community College Scheme. “All that the student needs to do is that he or she will have to undergo a bridge course. Once they clear the course, they can participate in the PG courses at these Community Colleges which may be started in the country,” UGC Chairman Sukhadeo Thorat said. A committee last week said community colleges may be launched in a similar fashion as they exist in the US, Australia and Canada. These institutes proposed to impart three-year degree programmes in various subjects with a provision for awarding diploma at the end of each year. “If the student discontinues in the first year of the degree course, he or she can be awarded a one-year diploma. Similarly, those who complete the second year can get a two-year diploma certificate,” Thorat said. The advantage of participating in these degree programmes will be in terms of the option to pursue PG courses through the bridge course. The bridge course will be a sort of package programme that will enhance the level of competence of the candidates to the level of a PG student. There may be central scheme on Community College, Thorat said.
“Now, the recommendations of the committee will be placed before the commission after which it will be sent to the HRD Ministry for approval. If approved, a scheme may be started for Community Colleges,” he said. Community colleges are very popular in Western countries, where these institutions primarily attract and accept students from the local community, and are often supported by the local tax revenue. In the US and Canada, a community college, sometimes called a county college, junior college, technical college, or a city college, is an educational institute providing higher education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates and diplomas. Community colleges in Malaysia are a network of educational institutes whereby vocational and technical skills training could be provided at all levels for school leavers before they entered the workforce. In the UK, community colleges teach general certificates of secondary education courses.
— PTI
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Interactive tools add fun to learning AT a time when technology-driven X-Boxes and playstations are the order of the day, companies and schools are using alternative interactive tools to make lessons more enjoyable and fun for children. “Technology has made great inroads in every sphere. But it is still finding its way in education,” Axiom Education director Saurabh Saxena said. Axiom Education, a part of the Bilakhia Group, is involved in creating a number of interactive educational tools, including films, graphic novels and games among other things. The material, which involves a number of audio-visual resources mainly focused on science and mathematics, is designed on NCERT guidelines. “Interactive software tools like the ones Axiom has designed help the teacher ideate and innovate without just passing information,” Saxena said. Students of Class X at Rustomjee International School, Dahisar, were also part of the team that helped develop content for Axiom’s products. “Most often, we do not teach in the way children learn but the way in which we want them to. But when a child writes, he/she does in a way which is understandable to him/her,” Rustomjee director Hanif Kanjer said. Soumitra Bhoyar, Mrudul Bhatjiwale, Siddharth Raikar, all students of Class XI at
Rustomjee, wrote scripts for films and designed comic strips as part of an internship with Axiom.
— PTI
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CAMPUS NOTES
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak Maharshi Dayanand University has granted autonomous status to three of its affiliated engineering institutes. The decision to this effect was taken in the 199th meeting of the Executive Council (EC) of the university held recently. Chaired by Vice-Chancellor Dr. R.P. Hooda, the meeting approved the grant of autonomous status to the Institute of Technology & Management, Faridabad, Lingaya’s Institute of Management & Technology, Faridabad, and Career institute of Technology & Management, Faridabad. The EC also approved the recommendations of the selection committees for the promotion of five Readers in university teaching departments to the post of Professors under the Career Advancement Scheme and selections to the post of lecturers in the Institute of Management Science and Research, the Department of Visual Arts, including the post of Professor(s) in the departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences/ Mathematics/ Computer Science & Applications. The council also approved the proposal for publication of research works/Ph.D theses in the university press. In another decision, the EC approved the creation of various non-teaching posts in those departments where the courses are being run under the self-financing scheme and the promotions of non-teaching employees under the staff ratio scheme. Lady teacher alleges harassment
A tussle seems to be going on between the members of the teaching faculty of the university following some incidents in the recent past. The latest incident has been the alleged attack by some unknown anti-social elements at the house of a lady teacher on the university campus. According to the teacher, she had gone out for some work on November 16. When she came back to her house, she found the doorbell, a tube light and the door viewer—a small fish-eye lense that allows residents to view outside—damaged. While the incident was brought to the notice of the authorities concerned, she alleged that no action had been taken so far. Without naming anyone in particular, she claimed that some insiders could be behind the incident, as they wanted to harass her and create a fear psychosis after she had raised the issue of non-grant of permission by a head of the department for attending an orientation course at another university. “The incident had a pure motive of harassing single working woman like me, but no help came from either the teaching or the non-teaching staff, besides my neighbours,” she said. However, Head of the Department Harish Kumar claimed that he had not been informed of any such incident and he was ready to provide his support, if required. He also clarified that there was no controversy regarding the permission for the orientation course.
— Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat
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AgricultureChaudhary
Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Room No 202, Fletcher Bhawan,
Hisar (Har)
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PUNJAB has a higher female literacy rate than the national average, and in fact for both urban and rural sectors, it is higher than most of the states, says a new study by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Punjab’s female literacy rate for rural areas is 56 per cent, against the national average of 53.5. In urban areas, it matches the national average of 77.