EDUCATION

Multipurpose school loses purpose
From Deepkamal Kaur

LUDHIANA, Jan 4 — The Government Multipurpose Senior Secondary School, Cinema Road, is no longer a multi-purpose school. While some of the vocational courses which made the school ‘multipurpose’ in 1961 have been closed, those that are being continued are being run with obsolete technology.

Several vocational courses like craftsmanship, photography, painting, television repair and woodwork, which are listed on a board displayed outside the principal’s office are no longer being taught. Teachers of the school said that all these courses had to be dropped either because grant from the government had stopped or because of want of trainers. While some of the trainers retired, others were shifted elsewhere, said teachers.

Even some recreational activities like gidha and bhangra have been abandoned for the past few years. The school used to appoint bhangra and gidha coaches on a contract-basis and the students of the school used to participate at the district as well as the state-level. However, owing to lack of proper coaching, school students have not been able to participate in these competitions at least for the past five years.

Under a project of the Central Government, the school was given a course in computer applications in 1980s. Four computer systems and a printer was allotted. A trainer was also appointed by the government. The project was closed in 1987 as the central government stopped its grant. The four computers have been packed in cartons and have been gathering dust since.

Lectures on career counselling were also arranged for students of higher classes and members from the employment exchange used to visit the school periodically. But for the past few years, no such lectures have been organised.

The five trades which are being run currently in the school include computer science, mechanical engineering, auto engineering, knitting technologies and secretarial practice. It is compulsory for the Class XI and XII students of the school to take up any one of these trades. As per the course outline, 50 per cent of the marks are given for practical, 30 per cent for theory and 20 per cent for the 21-day training in a private company engaged in a similar trade.

However, there is hardly any infrastructural the school for doing practical work. For more than 50 students who have taken up computer science, there is just one computer which the government provided in 1991. The computer has never been upgraded since it was given to the school. The computer goes out of order after every three to four months. No new software has been installed. The computer works on DOS an operating system which is totally out of date. Programmes like D-base, Basic, Cobol and Wordstar, which have become obsolete, are still being taught in the school.

For knitting, there are three hand-driven machines — two for knitting socks and one flat machine. No new machine has been installed ever since the course started.

Some activities which are being run in the school include NCC, NSS and games like basket ball, kho-kho, cricket, hockey, volley ball, badminton and athletics. 

Changed pattern of paper flayed
From Our Correspondent

MANDI GOBINDGARH, Jan 4 — Great resentment is being expressed over the decision of the Punjab School Education Board to eliminate questions of History of Punjab from the question papers of Class X in the coming examinations.

The reason being put forward is that the question papers cannot be supplied this time. Students said this was a great injustice as students had been taught History of Punjab till December, 1999. Mr S.P. Goel, president of Primary Schools Organisation of Amloh Zone had approached the Punjab School Education Board authorities not to eliminate History of Punjab, altogether and set some questions as alternatives or give the students more choice, otherwise the board would have to announce grace marks to bring down the number of failures.

COURTS

HC order on commercial properties
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — In a landmark judgement the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday ruled that a tenant occupying commercial premises will have to vacate it , if the owner wishes to use the same for his personal need.

Mr Justice R.L. Anand handed down this 23-page judgement on a petition filed by Mr Rakesh Vij, a respondent tenant of SCF No. 8, Sector 16, against Dr Raminder Pal Singh and challenging the order of the Rent Controller, Chandigarh, under Section 13 of the Rent Restrictions Act as extension of Urban Area Chandigarh for ejectment of the respondent from the SCF.

Dr Raminder Pal Singh Sethi has filed the petition under Section 13 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949 as extended to the Urban Area of Chandigarh against the respondent tenant, Mr O.P. Vij, seeking ejectment of the latter from the SCF on the plea that the premises was required by him for personal use and occupation.

It is mandatory that residential premises can be got vacated when owner desires to reside in the same and the High Court has extended this law to the commercial premises also.

Mr Justice Anand observed, “In nut shell, I have tried to show through this order that the Amending Act of 1982 does not require any separate repealing by the Legislature or by the High Court or by the Supreme Court. It has already lost its value and importance after passing of the judgement in Harbilas’s case from which there is no escape for us”.

Mr Justice Anand directed the tenant to hand over the possession of the premises to the owner within two months.