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| Monday, June 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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STATE OF EDUCATION Chandigarh, June 24 On the other hand, Prof P.S. Sangha, Principal, SGGS College, Sector 26, believes that education has always had a much broader role to play than just to provide a means of livelihood. “Presently, I think that the education system is in a state of crisis. The experiments of BCA and BBA have failed and the speed with which life and its needs are changing each day, it is virtually impossible to keep pace with all that and inculcate it in our education system,” Ms Bhargav says. “There is a big problem with vocational courses also. The number of seats in the vocational courses is limited and as a result, only the high ranking, meritorious students get admission. Now these are students who are good in studies and will be getting into professions based on their main subjects. They do the vocational course, but never take it up as a profession later. Those students who ought to have done a vocational course never get to get admission in these,” she adds. “There has to be a full-fledged comprehensive career screening for the students after class XII. They should be able to decide what exactly they want to do in the future and at the same time, the education system should be flexible enough to provide relevant opportunities in the form of the right courses to these students so that neither the effort of the student nor the money of the university and colleges is wasted,” she contends. “There is lack of accountability of both faculty members and students. All of these have come to acquire a rather laid-back, relaxed attitude towards their duties. The UGC has been regularly increasing the salary of teachers, but has also asked them to teach for a minimum number of hours or for so many working days in a year, but none of these rules are being followed. Similarly, the students are not bothered as many come to colleges to pass time. There has to be some purpose which the education system shares and there should be a difference between a person who is educated and one who is not. The answer to this lies in incorporating value teaching as part of the syllabus,” she suggests. “A principal is bound by a large number of rules, so one cannot take too many liberties with experimentation. If the university becomes strict in ensuring that the UGC guidelines and the rules it lays down for colleges are followed to the word, I think the whole system will improve. If along with the subjects which are taught to the students, an aspect of the philosophy of that subject is also taught, at least that will retain the importance of teacher in the classroom. As facts and theories are all now available on the Internet, students will need teachers to make them understand why they should know these facts being made available to them,” she adds. To Professor Sangha, education has a different meaning altogether. “Only recently have people started studying for making a living. The real aim of education is to teach a person how to live life the right way. In that purpose the education system is still useful. An educated person who is not employed is better off than an uneducated person. He is more aware and law-abiding and so the education system is at least producing men and women who are going to do their bit for the society,” she believes. “Only six per cent of people in the country in for higher education. It is important that the system continues. There is no doubt that the state of the education system is bad, but improvements can be made if the system is revamped. Job-oriented is one thing, but the focus should be on the overall development of personality of the student. Herein lies the utility of colleges. They provide a ground for the school students to work in and move forward to the university education. In any case, masters is something everyone does to get jobs. So the colleges should basically focus on the development of the mind of the student,” he states. “The failing lure of classroom teaching is a vicious circle. Students do not want to study in the classroom as they find it useless. The entrance examinations are doing a lot of damage to classroom teaching. So when there are no students the teachers too tend to relax. Science subjects and their understanding is taking a backseat. As there are no practicals in these entrance tests, students do not want to do practicals. All they want are pass marks, which they easily get,” he says.  |
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Improvement in college
education stressed Chandigarh, June 24 He favoured continuous improvement in the quality of higher education in colleges, failing which, according to him, they ceased to exist in the light of global competition. ‘‘Our higher education system is geared more to work towards limited intellectual development and in the process, the students have not prepared for social sensibilities and civil sensibility,’’ he said. He further suggested that college principals must prepare students for becoming relevant to society at large. This session was chaired by Prof
G.D. Sharma. The evening session was conducted at GGDSD College, Sector 32, where Prof
G.D. Sharma, Head, NIEPA, New Delhi, spoke of IT as an resource for effective college management. He opined that organisations had been moving from philosophy of self-reliance, protection, and
job security to the philosophy of quality improvement, productivity and competition. In this paradigm shift, IT was emerging as the most important resource in college administration. Prof K.K. Uppal and Prof Meenakshi Malhotra made a joint presentation on principles of management for college administration in the first session. They argued that college principals should adopt a leadership style so that people working with them
strove willingly towards achievement of organisational goals. This session was followed by another on total quality management in a college setting by Mr Chander Mohan, former MD, PTL, SAS Nagar. He stated that in the light of increasing competition, emphasis of centres of excellence on performance delivery, rising standards and continuous upgradation of knowledge was needed. Prof
K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chacellor, Panjab University, participating in the discussion at the end of today’s sessions, stated that the industry must appreciate the huge investment made by the university in human resource development and should return to the university system a part of its profit earned through the personnel developed in the university. Prof
S.P. Singh, in his presidential address, remarked that total quality management should be used by colleges as means for giving education which was relevant to the industry and society. Prof Ramesh Kapoor, while extending the vote of thanks, emphasised the need to promote mutual cooperation between industry and educational institutions. |
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Amar Deepika NIPM
chief Chandigarh, June 24 She along with an 11-member executive committee was formally installed in office at an annual general meeting of the NIPM here today. Other office-bearers are: vice-chairmen — Mr G.S. Gill and Mr C.M. Mohanty; honorary secretary — Mr Balbir Singh; honorary treasurer — Mrs Renu R.P. Singh; additional honorary secretary — Mr J.P .Singh; and members — Mr R.S. Nanda, Ms Monika Sodhi, Mr Kulwant Singh, Mr Anil Kaushik and Mr Amarjot Singh. A lecture on “visionary leadership” was delivered by Dr Vidhu Mohan, a psychologist and former professor and head of the Psychology Department, Panjab University, Chandigarh. |
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DAV-10 boys bag top
positions Chandigarh, June 24 Gaurav Handa of Panchkula has topped the Panjab University BCA final-year examination, while Kshitij V. Joy, also of Panchkula, has come a close second. Gaurav attributed his success to hard work, blessings of God and his parents. He had his eyes fixed on the top position and gave credit to the college faculty. Kshitij said he was contented with his performance. He has his eyes set on a future in information technology. While the college has also attained a 100 per cent result in the examination, the principal also informed that all the students had passed the examination in first division. |
Kids display
art skills Panchkula, June 24 An exhibition of art and craft items prepared by the participants of the workshop was displayed. These included colourful tiles, murals, foil paintings, sketching, spray painting, block painting while decorated pots of all shapes and sizes, prepared by the participants, were also exhibited. Other activities in the summer camp included swimming, skating, teaching of spoken English and solving curriculum difficulties. The students were happy to be a part of the workshop. Said Parteek Mahajan, one of the participants, ‘’The camp was an allround development programme. It was an exciting experience for all the kids.’’ Said Har Simran, another participant,’’ I have learnt many new things in the camp. Dancing and painting are the new extra-curricular activities which I have learnt here.’’ The chief guest, Mr S.S. Gill, a former student of the school, said, ‘’ The talent exhibited by the students is remarkable. The camp had offered a variety of experiences to the participants for their personal growth.’’ The Principal of the school, Mr Pritam Singh Serai, said, ‘’ The aim of the camp was to enrich the overall personality of the students.’’ He added that the work and performance of the participating children was indication enough that the aim of the camp was well-achieved. |
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Impressive show by
children Chandigarh, June 24 Mr C.L. Gulati of the Sant Nirankari Mandal said the event was organised on the culmination of a series of one-day ‘‘Creativity and Human Reunion Workshops’’ held at 45 places in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Paradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh during the past over one week. Mr Ajaib Singh Machhike, executive member of the mandal, in his presidential address said, ‘‘The fact of human unity is natural, but cultural and social prejudices and superstition always stand in the way.’’ Mr Kesho Ram Nandwani, head of the All-India Bal Sangat Programme of mandal, stressed the need for saving the youth from menaces like drug addiction, juvenile delinquency and other undesirable tendencies.
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