LUDHIANA, Sept 3 — The home environment and socio-economic status of a family contributes immensely towards the school adjustment of a child.

A study conducted on 200 pre-adolescents children belonging to rural areas by Shivani Satija in the MSc Human Development Department of PAU has found that better environment at home causes less problems for the child in the school.

The study also found that organisation and administration standard of school caused the maximum education problems to the children followed by problems related to social and educational atmosphere. The problems related to cultural and historical taboos were the least.

Claiming that the majority of rural pre-adolescent students faced educational problems, the study recommended that the parents should be made to realise the importance of home environment to minimise the problems faced by the children in schools. It also called upon the schools to introduce a variety of extra-curricular activities for all round personality development of the students. Organisation of seminars and workshops has also been stressed.

The study was conducted to identify the educational problems and to study their relationship with socio-economic status, home environment, school environment and parent-child relationship.

According to the study educational problems are indices of maladjustment and have adverse effect on progress and achievement of students and the consequent dropout. Behaviour problems concerning education, such as quarrelling, using abusive language, school phobia and truancy, are very common. Majority of these are interlinked with socio-cultural environment. Economic backwardness of the family, indifference of parents, irrelevant education, and engagement of children in paid work to supplement family income contribute towards children dropping out of school.

LUDHIANA, Sept 3 — Debeers, the famous diamond company, is heading towards Chattisgarh, for it has been discovered that the place has got diamonds of good quality, but Habib Tanvir had snatched diamonds from Chattisgarh in 1968 and yesterday, they twinkled on the stage of B.C.M. School during the staging of the play “Charandas Chor.” All characters in the play acted brilliantly. Gobind Ram, who enacted the role of Charandas Chor, stole the hearts of people by his simplistic and seasoned performance.

Mr Brij Mohan Munjal, Chairman of Hero Group, at the end of play said, “Gobind Ram Ji has played the role of chor innumerable times, and hope that he will continue to do so, for the message that he gives is beautiful. In spite of being a thief, he gives up his life to uphold his principles and fights against all odds to keep up his word. This message is very relevant for the students and other people even today.”

The evergreen play penned by Habeeb Tanvir, a number of years ago, has not lost its appeal. The protagonist, Charandas, is so much into thieving that he cannot give it up. He lives a life of playing hide and seek with the police. The role of policeman is enacted by Habeeb himself. In one of his escapades, he comes to a village temple where he meets a sadhu. The sadhu takes four ‘prans’ or promises from him a) he won’t ride an elephant in a procession b) he will not eat food in a gold plate c) he will never marry a queen d) he will not accept a kingdom if offered. The sadhu asks him to give up thieving but, Charandas frankly says, “I cannot leave stealing, for it is my source of livelihood, but I promise I will always speak the truth.”

Charandas steals in a typical Robinhood style, robs the rich to pay the poor. His ultimate aim is to rob the casket from king’s treasury. He steals five gold mohars and, reflecting the corrupt society, the treasurer also steals five mohras and blames Charandas.

Charandas speaks out the truth and Rani to whom the treasure belongs, is impressed by his honesty and wants to reward him by asking him to sit on the elephant and come to her in a procession. Remembering his vow, he refuses. The queen, fascinated by his grit, asks him to marry her. He refuses the queen’s offer and this refusal hurts the ego of the queen and she asks her soldiers to kill him. So Charandas pays with his life in order to live by his principles.

Minimum props were used. The Chattisgari dialect used was not easily understandable. But in the theatre, the body language can express a lot and since the actors were well trained, their body language could help the audience understand the whole play. Kudos to Habib Tanvir and his theatre group for putting up such a marvellous show in spite of odds like bad sound and failure of electricity during the play. One could hear frequent bursts of laughter, but in the end when Charandas dies, it fills everyone’s heart with sadness.