EDUCATION

Few takers for home science course
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, June 27 — The number of students seeking admission to the home science course is decreasing every year. According to sources, only 51 applications have been received by the College of Home Science against 60 seats for admission in this one-time prestigious course.

In 1994-95, the total number of applicants was 345 and this number reached 370 in 1997-98. But last year only 42 girls were admitted and only 37 of them are continuing with the course.

Ms S.K. Mann, Dean, College of Home Science, is in favour of reintroducing the five-year undergraduate course for students who have passed class X. “There is the need for financial, technical and entrepreneurial training. Women should be prepared for small scale, cottage and home-based industry,” she said.

Though the ICAR has decided to change the postgraduate curriculum of home science, she suggests computer training and certain courses on entrepreneurship development.

With this, more job avenues would be created.

Medical transcription
From Deepkamal Kaur

LUDHIANA, June 27 — Information technology has paved the way for yet another career as that of a medical transcriptionist. Offshore Informatique Ltd (OIL) is among a handful of such institutes in Punjab that have opened training as well as production facilities, thus giving job opportunities to all those who aspire to choose this line of career. The best part of it is that anyone who is just class XII qualified in any stream is eligible to opt for this career.

Giving thedetails of this career, Mr Paramjit Juneja, one of the directors of OIL, said, ‘‘Medical transcriptionist’s job is to type a dictation given by a doctor on the computer. This dictation could be a patient’s medical history, a narration of an operative procedure, or simply a consultation letter.’’

OIL has a tie-up with two companies in the USA which record the tapes of the doctors and send these via satellite or the Internet to it in India. Says Mr Juneja, ‘‘India being rich in human resource with a large number of English literate population has become the second largest medical transcription centre after the USA. The US doctors have to pay a relatively low price to the Indian medical transcriptionists in contrast to those in the USA and, thus, they prefer to get their work done from the Indians.’’

Unlike the Indian scene, the doctors in the USA are required to maintain a complete patient record at all times for legal purposes, insurance claims, health benefits etc. However, due to the time constraint, they are not able to do so. Instead, they get it done from medical transcriptionists. All that a doctor has to do is to dial a toll-free number given to him by the company and dictate it all. This dictation is recorded by the company.

The doctors in the USA send their dictation in mornings. Since there is a time lapse of almost 12 hours in the USA and India, it is night here in India. The medical transcriptionists in India start their job in the morning here. After they listen to the tapes and type them, these are checked by the proof-readers. There may be two proof-readers because the reports have to be correct up to 98 per cent or otherwise they are not accepted by the US doctors. Also the medical transcriptionists are required to maintain full secrecy of the patients’ records.

OIL conducts an entrance test for all its candidates. All those who clear the test undergo coaching for six months and on-the-job training for the next six months. During the coaching period, the candidates are required to take coaching for seven hours a day. In this period, their English grammar skills are brushed up. More emphasis is laid on American English. Using audio-visual aids, they are acquainted with medical terminology. ‘‘So much stress is laid on medical terminology that our candidates are almost half doctors,’’ Mr Kiran, Project Manager at OIL, says.

Another attraction of this career is that it assures almost 100 per cent job opportunity. ‘‘All the candidates who take the training from our centre and qualify with 75 per cent marks are placed at our centre. All those who do not qualify with this percentage are given a rigorous coaching for another 40 days during which they generally manage to qualify,’’ Mr Juneja says.

Yet another advantage is that the fee of Rs 20,000 deposited at the time of admission is actually a security. It is refunded with interest at the time of last six months of the training when they are paid Rs 4,000 per month. Soon after the completion of this one-year training the candidates are placed at Rs 6,600 per month. The company plans to generate employment for 560 people in the next three years. The company is also working in a direction to train the blind and the handicapped free of cost and provide them stipend during training.

OIL is drawing candidates from Jalandhar as well as Amritsar. These candidates daily move up and down.

The four directors of the company seem to be quite satisfied. Next they plan to set up a branch in the US where they can have their own server.

Ludhiana, June 27 — Career graphs these days are not linear. For most of the students, graphs take many turns and twists, before a student settles down and gets admission in a particular college. Many competitive examinations are conducted to evaluate a student's potential. Common Entrance Test for admission in B.Sc. Agriculture and Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences and Animal husbandry was conducted today from 10 am to 1 pm in PAU.

Thousands of parents accompanied their young ones from distant places to appear in the test. The total number of applicants was 2,371. Such a large number of applicants competed for 113 seats in all (68 seats in COA & 45 in BVSc & AH).

Parents seem to be more worried than the students. They were under a lot of pressure because they know that good marks in any competitive exam are essential in our education system for getting into a good college and then a good job.

Waiting outside, for three long hours, under the sun, can create immense amount to pressure and anxiety in itself.

Mr Amrish Sood who was sitting alone in front of the examination centre, told The Tribune that he had come from Amritsar, along with his son, Amit, for the test, so that he may feel encouraged.

Mr Harcharanjit Singh and Mrs Saroj Bala accompanied their daughter Ramneek from Gurdaspur for entrance in B.Sc. Agriculture. According to them, some special arrangements should be there for parents and others who had come from such a distance. "At least, a tent should be set up on the campus", he suggested.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor, Mr Aulakh, said special arrangements for drinking cold water etc. had already been made, but the financial budget does not allow them to do much more for the benefit of the parents.