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July 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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College of Agriculture
Engineering offers Ludhiana, July 28 The new course will be offered to the students from the next session onwards. The final decision would be taken after the proposal gets an approval by the Academic Council of PAU. Dr H.S. Sekhon, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, who had returned after attending a three-week workshop at University of Brighton, U.K., while talking to Ludhiana Tribune today, said that the course was to be started to strengthen the postgraduate diploma in IT. The diploma in IT was started last year by PAU under a project sanctioned by the University of U.K. Dr Ranjit Singh Tambar was the coordinator of the project and after his retirement as Dean, College of Agriculture, Dr Sekhon, was given the charge of the project. Dr Sekhon said that the motive behind the introduction of the new course was to ensure the simplification of user and device interaction. He said that the emphasis of the course would be to develop interface so that the computer can be used by a commoner without any difficulty. He said that knowhow of a device on which the student is working is a must. Citing instances, he said: “For most of the people the programmes in a computer were like big rooms which had doors but nobody knew how to enter the room after opening those. He further said that the course was being started with an underlying idea that the system should remain humancentric, in which the hub of activity should be the man. Moreover it should be for the convenience of man. He said that the students opting for the course would be educated about the cognitive sense, psychology, task analysis and feedback. The text material would be provided by the university of Brighton for the whole course. The admission to diploma course was open for all the students of PAU who had a bachelor’s degree in any stream. So it becomes a must to offer a course, which would simply make the students acquainted with the device. To start with the course, the COAE would also provide training to the faculty members of the college who are engaged in teaching the students of the diploma. Dr Sekhon said that the university would also request the experts from the University of Brighton to provide training to the faculty members about the course. He said that the experts from U.K. were visiting the university off and on to impart training to the students. He said that in the last session also the experts had come to teach the students of the diploma. Dr Sekhon also said that the new course would also be introduced in the M.Tech degree offered by the COAE, PAU. He said that the new course would be included in already existing six courses in the diploma. The students would be allowed to choose any of the four courses in the diploma. |
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School lecturers to support ETT teachers’ stir Ludhiana, July 28 The lecturers body at a state-level meeting held here today has condemned the hardened attitude of the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, and decided to support the agitation of the ETT unemployed teachers. The minister is alleged to have taken the stand that to fill the posts of primary teachers, a merit list would be prepared of ETT, JBT and B.Ed candidates, where ETT teachers do not stand anywhere in the competition. Mr Sukhdev Singh Rana, senior vice-president, Government School Lecturers’ Union, Punjab, said, “Earlier, the government had taken a stand that it would accept the ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the eligibility of B.Ed candidates for the post of primary school teachers. Now, it has decided to fill the posts without waiting the decision and is ready to give preference to the ETT exam passed candidates. The so-called merit list is being prepared on the basis of performance in matric, twelfth, ETT and B.Ed.” He pointed out that a condition has been further imposed that only those candidates would be considered who had secured at least 43 per cent marks in the merit list. Though there were about 3,500 ETT passed candidates against 7,230 posts, but the government was not ready to give preference to the ETT candidates. The ETT candidates have demanded that they should be first considered for the posts, as according to the National Education Policy, ETT and JBT candidates should fill the posts of primary school teachers. It is learnt that the government has decided to call 5 candidates for interview for each post. About 35,000 candidates would be called for interview for these posts, though there are more than 50,000 BEd candidates in the state. Mr Rana said due to the hardened attitude of the Education Minister, the teachers were forced to take an agitation path. The lecturers’ union has also demanded from the government to implement seniority list according to the ‘Janjua case’, and to order an inquiry into case of missing and tearing of service books of some teachers in Jalandhar district. The union condemned the policy of uprooting of science and commerce teachers in the name of rationalisation of posts, the victimisation of Mr Jagdeep Pal Singh, District President, Ferozepore. The members urged the Education Minister to take steps to end their agitation and to accept their demands at the earliest. |
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Rangoli, mehndi contests mark Teej at KVM Ludhiana, July 28 More than 125 students from Classes IX to XII participated in the contests. Girls made beautiful traditional, floral and geometrical patterns using saw dust, holi colours, flower petals, rice and pulses. These were adorned with mirrors, earthen lamps, maulis, ghungroos, coconut and colourful threads. They made eye-catching images of Ganesha, kalash and peacocks. In the mehndi competition, they displayed their talent by making beautiful traditional and Arabic patterns on their own hands. Besides, girls of primary section danced to the tunes of traditional sawan numbers. An exhibition of phulkaris, embroidered sheets, charkha and chhaj was also organised. In rangoli, Roseleen and Jyoti of Class XII were declared first, Shagun and Vidhusi of Class IX bagged the second prize and Simran and Priya from Class X were declared third. Zari and Neha of Class XI got consolation prizes. In mehndi, Shveta from Class IX, Ashima from Class XI and Simran from Class X were declared first, second and third, respectively. Priyanka Chawla from Class XI won consolation prize. Dr Sukjeet Kaur, Assistant Director,
Communications, Punjab Agricultural University and Ms Vandana, Assistant Professor, College of Agriculture, PAU, were the judges. Ms I.Kumar, Principal, appreciated the efforts of the students and told them about the importance of the day.
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Heavy school bags irk
parents Ludhiana, July 28 With increase in the total number of courses and an ever-expanding syllabii, the burden is more for students. Several schools have started computer education for even KG classes, besides giving them books for moral education and general knowledge. Since students have been instructed to bring all books, work-books and copies to the school everyday, the burden is not only symbolic but also physical, affecting the health of students. Several parents, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune, said that the burden of school bags was a nuisance and the school authorities need to seriously think of ways to reduce it. Ms Parveen Kohli, whose five-year old daughter is studying at a school in Civil Lines, said that the average weight of her daughter’s school bag was 6 kg. “She also has to carry a water bottle and the moment she comes back from the school, she throws away her school bag and bottle, and starts complaining about pain in her arms and shoulders. Several times, I have met her teacher and told her to do something to reduce the burden in school bags, but nothing has been done.” Mr Kanwardeep Singh, whose son is studying in Class II at a school in Sarabha Nagar, said that his son carried at least seven books and 12 copies to the school everyday. Besides, he has to carry his tiffin box, apron, napkin, school diary and water bottle. For three days after the summer break, he has also been carrying charts and models of various subjects to the school. He said the school authorities need to take immediate steps to reduce the burden, at least for small kids for which he suggested that the teachers could keep few books and copies with them on rotation. He also said that workbooks should be preferred for primary section students as they helped reduce additional burden to carry copies to the school. While some principals still believe that it was necessary for the students to carry all books and copies to the school daily, few principals of local schools have started thinking about the issue seriously. Ms Sadhna Sharma, Principal of a school, said that she had stopped giving books for general knowledge and moral education to children till Class II. Instead, the children were being taught various concepts of the two subjects by play-way methods. She said that no written paper was being taken and examination was being held orally. When the new system was introduced, several parents raised objection, saying that books for the two courses were necessary. Later, they realised that the books were only a burden and the children could understand the concepts otherwise. Dr R.L. Narang, a Psychiatrist in the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said that neither parents nor teachers were realising the effects of over-burdening schoolchildren. He said all books and copies should be kept at schools and the students should be allowed to enjoy and relax after the school hours. He said that this could happen only if the school authorities and the parents stop going in for an unhealthy competition. |
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Students display skills in model making Ludhiana, July 28 Students from Classes VI to XII of the school participated in the contest. Models of Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Qutb Minar and Jantar Mantar featured in the history section. In the geography section, the students displayed models, dresses and other accessories used in Rajasthan, West Bengal and Haryana. Under the mathematics and science sections, models on pollution and volcanoes were displayed. Apart from these, paintings and pots were also displayed. Ishmeet (Gandhi House), Parth (Tagore House), Aanchal (Nehru House) and Suhani Singh (Shastri House) got individual prizes for their handicrafts. In science and mathematics section, Varun Gupta (Gandhi House), Dhimant Jain (Nehru House), Harmeet (Shastri House) and Abhishek Gupta (Tagore House) received prizes. Amritsar Pannu (Gandhi House), Ity Aggarwal (Nehru House), Abhilash Garg (Shastri House) and Gamandeep (Tagore House) got prizes in the history section. Dr P.P. Gupta, Additional Director of Research, College of Veterinary Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University, and Dr Anil Srivastava, Professor at the same college, were the chief guests. Sister Sobel, Principal of the school, and Father Davis, Director, were present on the occasion. |
Forum penalises BSNL Ludhiana, July 28 The forum also ordered the BSNL to pay Rs 500 as cost of litigation to the consumer. Ms Kumar did not receive the bill for April, 2000, but her telephone was disconnected on July 12, 2000. She said no notice had been issued to her before her telephone had been disconnected. She received a duplicate bill for Rs 562 that included Rs 105 as reconnection charges, which she paid on July 19, 2000 after which the telephone connection was restored. Ms Kumar said she had to remain without a telephone connection for six days. She said the bimonthly telephone rent was Rs 360 in Ludhiana and no telephone could be disconnected if the pending amount was less than double the bimonthly rent. The BSNL said the complainant had been adamant on not paying the bill even after receiving a notice. It said the BSNL had the right to disconnect a telephone after a notice had been given, but it admitted that no telephone could be disconnected if the bill was for less than double the bimonthly rent. The BSNL said the telephone had immediately been restored after the payment of the bill and there had been no deficiency in the service. The forum said the respondent had admitted that the telephone had been wrongly disconnected as it had refunded the reconnection charges to the consumer, so it was guilty. |
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