EDUCATION

Parent education is need of the day

PARENTS’ education along with children’s education is of utmost importance in the new millennium, if we really want to turn out A-one students and want to find a place globally. If we educate the child and forget the parent, it will result in lopsided education and growth of the child. If we want an integrated growth of the child — IQ development along with EQ (emotional quotient ) and SPQ (spiritual quotient) development — then education of the parent is a must. Parents have to learn how to behave so that their children behave, too. Parents have to learn how to talk so that their children listen. They have to learn how to listen so that their children talk. They have to improve their communication skills. They should know how to set firm limits and still maintain goodwill and engage their child’s willing cooperation. They should be in the know about the alternatives to punishment and ways to resolve family conflicts. They should be able to motivate their child. They should learn that they can be proactive rather than reactive, so that life is easier when they plan ahead.Come to think of it, it is a new century we have entered and the needs are new in the light of the breakthrough in the information technology and multinationals coming to our door. In a year there are advancements that used to be there in a century previously. Are you prepared for one of today’s toughest challenges, helping your children get ahead in an increasingly competitive world? But parents are still stuck-up with old ways of thinking and of behaving. We need to sit down and take a look at ourselves. Even a small thing like a car is serviced regularly. But do we ever feel that our thinking process needs to be serviced? It is this that we have to do, if we are to ready ourselves to face the challenges of the new millenium.Well, how many of you know that there is an association for pre-school education that oversees the welfare of your child at the grassroot level? How many of you know that there are some minimum specifications fixed for pre-school by the NCERT, and any one or two-room shop cannot be called a play school? How many of you know that children retain 20% of what they read, 30% of what they hear, 40% of what they speak, 60% of what they read, hear and speak and 80% of what they do? How many of us know that the patience span of a 2-3-year-old child for an activity is only 15-20 minutes, according to developmental charts, and we need not strain them unnecessarily? Yes, these are questions which we should address to ourselves to assess how fit we are to be good parents. Parenting is a skill you have to learn.So, many of you say where is the time for finding answers to such questions after earning the day’s bread and butter? No, we cannot read voluminous books to know these things to equip ourselves. After all, our parents did not bother about these things. After all, we are educated people. But the question is were our parents living in such a complex world, juggling so many things under stressful conditions? How thoroughly educated are we in matters of child psychology? A Ph.D. or doctorate in one subject does not automatically equip us for our role as intelligent parents. At least, we can be positively inclined to improve ourselves. At least, we can spare a few minutes a day to go through a short paragraph to make ourselves more knowledgeable. An ocean is made of small drops only. Why not start to day? Why not start now? — Harpreet Kaur Gill 

Talent search contest big draw
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Sept 13 — The students of Arya College for Women presented poetry, declamation, skit, dances and songs in a talent search contest held here today.

The three topics given for the declamation contest were ‘Environmental pollution’, ‘Satellite TV’ and ‘Corruption in India’. Sumedha Bhandari and Neena Jain won the first and second prize, respectively, in the declamation. In the poetry recital, Divya was declared winner followed by Vasudha and Monica.

The girls presented classical as well as Haryanvi, Rajasthani and Punjabi folk dances. In individual dances, Tulika was declared the best and in group items, the pair of Sabina and Sumit got the first prize while that of Chitra and Deepti was declared second.

Geets, folk songs and ghazals like Tum pukar lo and Hosh walon ko khabar kya were presented by the students. Leena and Reena were declared first and second, respectively.

The fine arts competition included rangoli, flower arrangement and mehndi. For rangoli, Pooja and Kumkum were given first and second prizes, respectively, while for mehndi, Deepti and Neetu were awarded first and second prizes.

Mr V.K. Mehta, Principal of Arya College for Boys, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dhrupad treat for students
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Sept 13 — Students of Arya College for Women were treated to dhrupad, a classical form of music, from Uday Bhawalkar from Pune, who had come to perform here in a Spic Macay event organised by Virasat 2000 yesterday.

Bhawalkar gave a 90-minute performance in which he sang in two raagas — gunkali and sarang. Explaining the music, he said, ‘‘Dhrupad has two parts — alap and bandish. There is no place for harmonium.’’ He was accompanied by Manjit Kaur, and Sanjay Aagle. ‘‘Music can be interpreted in different ways. A particular alap may be taken as a dialogue between God and His disciple, a mother and a child or two friends. Different listeners can imagine differently,’’ Bhawalkar said.

Bhawalkar started his training at the age of eight. For six years, he learnt music in Ujjain. In 1981, he received a four-year scholarship from the Ustad Allaudin Khan Sangeet Academy to learn dhrupad from Zia Fariduddin Dagar at the Dhrupad Kendra, Bhopal. Later, he continued his training under his elder brother Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, the Veena maestro.

‘‘I stayed for 15 years at my guruji’s place, who used to wake me up at 4 am for the riyaz. I have performed in the USA, Mexico and Spain. People in these countries have a very different culture, language and music, but listeners used their own imagination to understand the music,’’ he said.

He said to the listeners that classical music was being labelled as ‘boring’ by some people these days. He told that before giving any comments of the sort, one must carefully understand the music. 

DMC seeks explanation from 14 teachers
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Sept 13 — The management of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital is reported to have sought explanation from 14 teachers, asking them to clarify on charges of malpractices. Sources in the college disclosed that the explanation was called from the teachers following the allegations of malpractice levelled against them by a teacher . The services of the said teacher were terminated some time back on the charges of malpractices, along with another teacher.

The said teacher had reportedly challenged the termination orders in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He reportedly submitted before the court that he was selectively targeted by the management as there were several other teachers in the DMC who were resorting to malpractices of different sorts.

About two months back, the DMC management had terminated the services of two senior teachers on the charges of malpractices, which included taking inducements from students for getting them through in the examination and running their own nursing homes against the rules and regulations of the DMC.