Ludhiana, May 2
“During earlier years, education was more oriented towards the development of child, but in recent years it has become more examination-oriented. However, there should be a balance between the two objectives,” said Mr Allan Newland, an educationist from London who is in the city to develop software for supplemental education for primary school children.

Mr Newland was teaching in a university in England and was conducting workshops for primary teachers. Now he has quit teaching and is involved in developing online learning resources. He said,” Many people are quitting their teaching jobs as these jobs do not pay well. Moreover, the cost of living in England is very high. One has to spend nearly 30 per cent of one’s budget on rent alone.. The things are getting dearer,”

He said teachers all over the world needed great skills to hold students’ attention. New ways have to be devised to hold the attention of the students. Our software company is producing tutorials for the Internet in mathematics and English for age group 7 to11. Within a year or so tutorials in both English and maths for the ages up to 16 will be ready. Later on science, geography, history curriculum would be included. Presently the product is being produced for British children, but later it will extend to other countries. Since it will be web-based , contents of history and geography of other countries can be added easily. These tutorials are written like short movies. These movies are cartoon animations and are created in the software ‘flash’. The animations last from 10 to 30 minutes. The children get an opportunity to be very interactive and dynamic. The software asks children a variety of questions after each episode. The learners can give a number of answers. The software records their assessment and awards them on the basis of their performance.

Mr Allan said in England primary students were given homework for 10 to 15 minutes period, whereas secondary students were given homework which could take up to two hours. The children were taught writing of alphabet at the age of 5. Though calligraphy was formally taught, there was a general decline.

Ludhiana, May 2
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Punjab State Electricity Board to pay Rs 2,500 as compensation for deficiency in services along with Rs 500 as cost of litigation to Mr Mohan Singh, a resident of New Shimlapuri.

According to the complaint, Mr Mohan Singh was issued notice demanding Rs 11,978 alleging that four ME seals of the meter were fake. The complainant stated before the forum that he had filed a suit on October 1, 1999, with the direction to refer the matter to the Dispute Settlement Committee and the Dispute Settlement Committee decided against him and raised a demand of Rs 60,273.

The consumer maintained that instead of recovering Rs 48,295 as he had been paid Rs 11, 978, the PSEB demanded Rs 52,125 to be paid till May 5, 2000, through a bill. He alleged that the notices issued by the PSEB were unlawful as there was no fake seal and there was no theft of energy. He pointed out that it was the duty of the board to check the seals from time to time and it was also never brought to his notice that the seals were fake.

The PSEB pleaded that there was no deficiency in services on part of the department as the electric connection no. N803 and N857 were running on the premises of the complainant and both connections were clubbed together vide order on June 2, 1997. The respondent stated that the meter (N803) was removed on June 3, 1996, and sent to the ME laboratory.

The board disclosed that it was found in the ME laboratory that four seals were tampered with and it was a clear case of theft of energy and as such the demand of Rs 11, 978 was raised. The consumer had deposited Rs 6,000 in July, 1997 and the balance amount was adjusted in August 1997. After that the complainant filed a civil suit which was dismissed and the matter was referred to the Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC) and the committee had directed to charge the amount on the basis of total load of the both connections, the respondent added. The PSEB further clarified that the total load was 23.840 kw and as such the demand of Rs 60,273 was raised.

The forum observed that it was a case where the DSC had acted as if it was a party to the proceedings before. The forum stated that as per the directions of the Supreme Court, under which the jurisdiction of the civil courts was barred, the DSC was expected to act as the quasi-judicial tribunal instead of acting as a tribunal and moreover the DSC instead of giving relief, directed both loads to be clubbed and recovery made. The forum further observed that it was admitted fact that one meter was checked and report was regarding only one meter and as such the PSEB could not recover the theft charges in respect of the load of the meter which was not checked.