EDUCATION

Schools violating directive on timings
By Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Jan 13 — A local school, contrary to orders issued by the Deputy Commissioner, did not allow students to enter the premises after 9 am stating that their school begins at 8:55 am. Consequently, the students and their parents stood in the rain for over an hour following which the school authorities relented after officials from the administration intervened. However, the parents took away their children since they were completely drenched in the rain.

Some schools in the township, like this one, are operating in violation of the instructions issued by the Deputy Commissioner, which stated that all government, private and government-aided schools in the district would begin at 10 am and continue till 4pm in view of the cold weather conditions. It added that the dress code may not be strictly adhered to and advised school managements to allow students to wear woollens as per choice.

However, when contacted, some private schools admitted that they were not conforming to the orders, while others contended that they were allowing the children to come in even though school begins at the announced time of 10am and had relaxed the dress code till the time the cold persisted.

The Principal of Bhawan Vidyalaya, Mrs Sashi Banerjee, says?``My school begins at 9:10 am because we have sought special permission for the same. The parents usually leave their children at school around 9 am since they have to go to office and it becomes inconvenient for them if timings are delayed any further. Also, 4pm gets very late for the children and the chill begins to set in. To avoid this, we finish with school just after 2 pm.’’

The Principal of Saupins School, Sector 9, Ms Upasana Baboota, informs,``We begin school at 10am but the students start pouring in from 9 o’clock itself. While the time for the junior school has been fixed at 10 am, the classes of students from Class II onwards are being held from 9 am. I have even sought the permission of officials concerned since most parents are being inconvenienced with the new timings given by the administration.’’ She adds that the transport at the new timings could not be arranged at such short notice.

Dr Rajni Thareja, Principal of Hansraj School, says: ``The timing for the junior school has been fixed at 10 am though the senior school begins at 9:30 am. This has been done owing to transport problem. Our buses make three rounds in one hour which is not possible if the school were to begin at 10 am. So, we have reached a compromise and adjusted the timing in a manner that suits everybody and ensured that neither the parents nor the students are inconvenienced by the changed timing.’’

Little Flower School in Sector 14, was the scene of a drama this morning. By the time the officials from the Administration reached the school, everything was over and the parents had packed off from the scene with their children.

Meanwhile, there are schools which have implemented the instructions of the administration strictly and are beginning school at 10am though they prefer to send off their students a little early.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr SK Monga, says he will not take the non-implementation of his orders lying down.``We have got a circular from the Education Department stating that the District Education Officer would fix the change of timings of schools in consultation with the Administration. Initially, we will try to ensure that the erring schools adhere to the notified timing. If they still don’t concede, action will be initiated against them from the department itself,’’ he says.

However, the District Education Officer, Ms Phool Khatri, says: “When we decided to begin school at 10am we had the welfare of children at heart. By the time the sun began to peep out and the fog began to lift, it was already 10am. Now, if the schools are facing any problem with the changed timing we will consider their suggestions in this regard. I will convene a meeting of the principals of all private schools, since these form a chunk of the violators, and arrive at a final decision in this regard.”

Making maths more accessible
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — Ever imagined that with square sheets of paper the concepts of circles, cones, triangles and cubes and also angles could be made clear? Or that even the matters of weights and measures could be understood with the help of brightly coloured square pieces of paper? Well, Ravindra Keskar, an electronics engineer, attempts to do just that with the help of origami!

Keskar, who is teaching electronics at the State Xavier Institute of Engineering, Mumbai, today held a workshop on these lines for teachers on ‘Mathematics Through Origami’ at the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Sector 22. The almost five-hour workshop was held with 16 teachers, who are working with the slum children.

Earlier, Ravindra Keskar had held a three-day training workshop on mathematics and origami at the same venue with 22 teachers of Punjab.

“Square pieces of paper is what my laboratory is all about. In fact a piece of paper costs nothing at all. And what I am concerned about is mathematics that deals with our day-to-day life and is not just in abstract terms”, said Keskar, who has been holding such workshops for the last 12 years.

But why mathematics? “Mathematics is a very tangible subject, but a majority of people seem to be afraid of this subject. So that is my aim, to make it more accessible”, he added. He was awarded a national award by the National Council of Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), in 1994, for science popularisation.

This engineer who seems to be on a one-man mission to teach mathematics through the traditional art of folding paper, said, “Through origami I try and make people understand how to provide balance to our immense natural resources, whether in terms of geographical assets or in terms of people”.

Keskar, who has worked with the victims of the Bhopal gas disaster and also the tribals of Chattisgarh, to shed mathematical fears and ignorance, also believes that mathematics also has a lot to do with “empowerment”.

He has also written two books on this subject — ‘Ek Adhaar, Anek Akar’ and its sequel ‘Titliyan’. Another book, in English, is due to be published, ‘Square Pegs in Round Holes’, which would deal exclusively with mathematics and circles.

Ravindra Keskar has also been awarded the Ruchi Ram Sahni Award by the Ruchi Ram Memorial Trust.

Lohri celebrations cancelled
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The Panjab University Campus Students Council in a press release here today said that Lohri celebrations by the council for this year had been cancelled due to a violent incident recently in which Harmeet Singh, a Law student, lost his eyes recently.

Harmeet Singh, a fourth-semester student, was a resident of Hostel Number 5 where the incident took place.

St John's team tops in debate
By a Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — An inter-school debate was organised by the Chandigarh Librarians Association in collaboration with DAV Public school, Sector 8, here, today. The topic of the debate was "Computer will take the place of books in 21st century."

Mr Brahmjit Kalia, District Education Officer, Chandigarh, presided over the programme. Mr J. K. Kataria, President of the CIA, was also present on the occasion. The General Secretary of the CIA, Mr I. B. Verma, said that the aim of the programme was to spread the message of the importance of books and libraries among students.

Parnav and Misha of St. John's High School, Sector 26, was the winner team while the teams of Manu and Sidharath of DAV College, Sector 10, and Deepika and Neha of DAV Public School, Sector 8, won the second and third prizes, respectively.

Misha Partap of St. John's High School was the best speaker of the day. Deepika Arora of DAV Public School and Shveta of Shivalik Public School, SAS Nagar, were declared second and third, respectively.

PU results to be computerised
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The examination branch of Panjab University has ushered in computer application for better management of the annual examination results and related records. The first beneficiaries are the undergraduate classes.

The pre-examination and the post-examination records of all under-graduate classes will be tabulated on data machines, said Dr Sodhi Ram, Controller of Examination while here today. The whole process is being undertaken under a 'self-designed' programme of the university.

The total strength of the undergraduate courses, including arts, science, commerce and professional streams, exceeds one lakh and it was being felt as one of the major reasons for delays in the whole process. The programme plans to check eligibility as a pre-conduct process.

Other major areas designed for the pre-conduct process included making subject groups, subject totals, information on examination centres and views of paper setters, Dr Ram said.

The post-conduct process programmes are expected to work on the lines of maintaining answer-book secrecy, helping identity and evaluation, decoding of fictitious roll numbers for final totalling, scrutiny and final compilation, he said.

Dr Ram added that the staff were being trained to maintain secrecy as demanded for the 'examination wing'. Mr A. R. Bhandari, Joint Controller, said work had already been done on lines of computerisation and it will be extended further. There was every likelihood to extend the facilities to post-graduate classes.

The university had used computers to aid in result compilation a couple of times earlier when it faced criticism. One of the attempts was in centralised admissions where the result compilation for the interviews came under fire.

COURTS

Concealment of facts alleged
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — Alleging concealment of facts by Spice Telecom, the Punjab Additional Director General of Police, Mr P. Lal, in a complaint to the District Consumer Forum, has asked for a compensation of Rs 5,00,000.

The ADGP has also asked for directions to the company to refund the "monthly auto-roaming fee and the roaming usage surcharge". Directions to print terms and conditions "in bold print to enable the prospective customer to read the same conveniently" have also been sought.

Giving details, the ADGP said the information regarding the payment of the STD charges, over and above the air time, in case he was in Delhi and someone talked to him on from his DOT phone, was concealed from him.

The counsel for the ADGP said the information regarding the outgoing and incoming calls being equal and at Rs 16.80 per minute during the peak hours while at Delhi was also concealed. The complaint will come up for further hearing before the forum on March 13.

Jerath supplied documents
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — The Engineering Department kickbacks case continued today, with certain documents being supplied to former Chief Engineer K.K. Jerath by the prosecution.

The UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi, on the last date of hearing, had partly allowed the former chief engineer's application for the supply of certain documents.

Seeking directions to prosecution for the supply of documents, the former CE had stated that he was being "denied the right of meeting the allegations at the stage of framing up of charges." He had stated that he would not be able to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses "for the want of these vital documents." The case will come up on January 19 for further hearing.

CULTURE

Images of tradition
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — An exhibition of water colour paintings by Ajay Kumar Samir has opened at Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16. The 19 works done by him in muted colours sketch a ritualistic and traditional impression of his surroundings.

The images of narrow lanes, quaint mosques, conventional wall hangings and images of gods and goddesses that appear in many paintings enhance this impression. The images of crows reaffirm the impact and influence of the conventional Indian images on the artist.

Samir is a BFA student from the College of Art, New Delhi.

Paash philosophy highlighted
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 13 — A Punjabi play Main ghah han, based on the philosophy of Paash, a revolutionary Punjabi poet, was staged at Panjab University here last evening.

The performance was well appreciated by the audience. Sangita Gupta lived up to the expectation of the crowd. The play has been written by Rana Ranbir and directed by Dr Atamjit.

One of the central features of the play was choice and flow of words in a harsh, hitting but beautiful manner. Paash’s struggle for better facilities for farmers was woven in “rural harsh vocublary”.

The presentation has Paash’s difference of opinion with the terrorist movement. Reflecting on his struggle with the group he says he was fed up to the extent where ‘Main ghah han’. (I have become nothing more than grass). He became a victim of terrorists’ bullets in real life.

Agitation with the current system and poor conditions in the agriculture sector were the highlights of the show where gloomy atmosphere sustained the essence of the script of Ranbir.

Renowned theatre personality Gursharan Singh was the chief guest for the function. Commending the performance, he spoke about his personal relation with the acclaimed poet.