The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

IN FOCUS
"Our schools better in discipline"
Tribune News Service

Panchkula
With all their cosmopolitan ways and informal teaching techniques, the schools in England are way behind their Indian counterparts in discipline, says Mr Krit Serai, Principal of Satluj Public School, who recently returned from England after a brief stay there.

``The situation is now worse than what it was about three years ago when I was teaching as a regular hand before returning to India. While the teacher has lost control of his class, the students have become more non-serious in their approach, since promotion to the next class is guaranteed, whatever the class test results,’’ he said.

Back from his recent visit to the United Kingdom, where he ``went back to school’’ for a couple of months, Mr Serai added that the Asian community had made an impact in classrooms by their better performance but were becoming increasingly aggressive in the face of the rising incidents of racial discrimination.

``In our schools, education is synonymous with cramming, while there the emphasis is on field work, practical lessons and making the student street smart. Our education system could adopt a few things from them,’’ he added.

Highly appreciative of the work culture in those institutions, Mr Serai emphasised that the principal did not have to wield the rod to make them perform. Inspection by the principal to ensure that the teachers are in their classes is unheard of. ``Companionship and a bond between the students and the teachers is another strong point,’’ he said.

Interestingly, property prices in a particular locality in England are related to the school in that area.``Since admission to a government-run school is given on the basis of residence, well-known schools have a higher density of population around them and, consequently, higher rents and property prices,’’ he said.

While the private schools are much more affordable in India in comparison with those in the U.K., the government schools could learn a few things to raise their teaching levels and make them as attractive and popular as the state-run schools in the U.K.

Before taking over as Principal of Satluj Public School, Mr Serai had taught in various schools in England.

Day of freshers’ bash at GCG-11
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4
It was a day of functions, parties and contests at Government College for Girls, Sector 11, here today. With two fresher parties, the students of the college were dressed in their best attires and moved about the college with the “very-busy” look on their faces as they had made all arrangements on their own for the fresher parties to welcome their juniors. The college faculty members had also arranged their alumni meet as 40 of the old students of the college are teaching in the college. Thirty of these teachers got together and recalled their college days in a separate function.

Earlier in the day, the science students of the college got together to welcome their juniors. In the afternoon, the various postgraduate students of the college welcomed their juniors. The college has this year started new post graduate classes and now the total number of PG courses in the college is five.

Other than the colourful presentation of the dance and songs on the latest pop and Hindi film numbers and skits the highlight of both the parties was the competition among the freshers for the selection of Miss Science Fresher and Miss Post Graduate Fresher.

After rounds and rounds of catwalking, the results were finally declared. Ms Payal Kapoor became Miss Science Fresher while Ms Deepshikha was declared Miss Personality and Reema became Miss Charming. In the post graduate student’s party, Satvinder was declared as Miss Fresher while Gurpreet and Shivani were declared second and third runners up, respectively.

Then there was the intra-class Nestle sponsored home science contest where the students were tested for their culinary skills. Prachi got the first prize for her delicious pineapple island while Parul got the second prize for her pineapple upside down cake and Meenakshi got the first prize for having made “Thandai”.

Dress up for a prize
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4
This one is sure to be of some interest to the better dressed up lot in the city. As students of National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) in Sector 8 get ready to hunt for the three best dressed males and three best dressed females in the city, beginning from today, it would serve the people well to put up their best face. And this for the simple reason that the ones who win after a month-long hunt will be honoured at a special function to be held in October.

The assignment has been given to all students on the campus. They will be required to go about the whole issue in three main stages. In the first few days, they will have to go around the fashion circuit observing and judging people. They will also have to take notes on their dresses and later also take their comments. The mood of the day and the design and fall of the fabric will also be kept into consideration while hand-picking people in three main categories: students, professionals and executives.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
Order to halt DSPs’ promotion
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4
Directing the state of Punjab and other respondents against ordering the promotion of Deputy Superintendents of Police till the next date of hearing, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion for September 18 on a petition filed by DSP Harcharan Singh and two other directly-recruited officers alleging that the promoted officers were being considered for further promotion.

In their petition against 171 respondents taken up by the Bench, comprising Mr Justice Amarbir Singh Gill and Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar, the DSPs had earlier contended that the promoted officers were being placed above them after being confirmed as DSPs.

Giving details, counsel for the petitioners had submitted that the promotion of the respondents was confirmed by treating their temporary promotion as regular. Going into the background, he had claimed that the respondents, initially posted as inspectors, were promoted on a temporary basis as DSPs between 1989 and 1994 though they had not fulfilled the minimum condition of six years’ experience. He had added that the promotions were made without adjudging their suitability and fitness.

The authorities had, moreover, failed to consult the Punjab Public Service Commission before ordering the promotions. On the other hand, the petitioners were directly recruited as DSPs between 1993 and 1994 and were confirmed between 1995 and 1996.

Vigilance probe into Addl SHO’s assets

Ordering the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to conduct a probe into the assets of Additional Station House Officer Bhag Singh of Julkan police station accused of implicating a Patiala district resident for his failure to supply free sand, Mr Justice Nirmal Singh of the High Court today directed the Director-General of Police to shift him “to some other place where there was no public dealing”.

Pronouncing the orders, Mr Justice Nirmal Singh observed: “Bhag Singh has admitted in his affidavit and statement that he has issued a slip for the supply of sand.... Taking into consideration the statement of the truck owner as well as the admitted fact that Bhag Singh took sand free of cost, it has become necessary that an inquiry should be held by Vigilance Bureau to ascertain the assets of Bhag Singh and also the expenditure incurred for the construction of his house. Let the inquiry be conducted within three months”.

Petitioner Tilak Raj’s counsel had, on the last date of hearing, alleged that a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was planted as the Additional SHO had asked him to supply free sand. He had also placed on record a copy of the receipt.

Status quo on encashing cheques

Issuing notice of motion on a petition filed by five gram panchayats seeking directions to the state of Punjab against encashing cheques issued in names of the executive engineers after the Chief Minister’s “sangat darshan”, Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice Ashutosh Mohunta of the High Court ordered maintenance of the status quo.

In their petition, the gram panchayats had earlier stated that during the “darshan” grants were issued to the MLAs for further distribution to the gram panchayats for carrying out development work. The local MLA, on the Chief Minister’s pressure, had, however, cancelled the cheques issued in the name of the sarpanches and issued these in the names of the executive engineers. This, counsel for the petitioners added, was in violation of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act.

Show-cause notice to Ludhiana SE

Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice Ashutosh Mohunta of the High Court on Tuesday directed the Superintending Engineer with Ludhiana’s Municipal Corporation, M.N. Sharma, to show cause why proceedings for perjury should not be initiated against him for not presenting accurate facts before the court.

Issuing directions, the Judges observed that in view of certain documents produced by the petitioner, it prima facie appeared that the written statement filed by Sharma did not give complete and accurate facts.

In his petition, Ludhiana-based government contractor Gurvinder Pal Singh had earlier sought directions to the respondents for releasing the payment of pending bills with interest at the rate of 24 per cent per annum for work executed and completed by him in accordance with the terms and conditions.

CULTURE

Heavy dose of bitter truths
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 4
The latest production of Abhinet, which was staged at Tagore Theatre today, was a little heavy on the heart. Bitterly true observations were made by playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar, whose play Garbo was all about false facades and false interiors.

Directed by Harish Bhatia and translated into Hindi by Shankar Shesh, the play had Jainendra Singh as Intuc, Vijay Kapoor as Shrimant, Anupam Jindal as Pansy and Tasveer Claire in the role of the protagonist Garbo. The script was brilliant in its treatment of characters. Where Intuc plays a frustrated intellectual who seeks comfort in playing with words, Pansy plays a potential homosexual, who is continuously pursued by an impotent Shrimant. Tasveer Claire in the role of Garbo, the mother-mistress of the three males, is fairly convincing.

The plot is about how each character searches for the escape route — how in the first half, the three men bare their sexual urges in relation to Garbo; how later they are afraid to face the reality that Garbo is pregnant; how even in her pregnancy they look for their own salvation, when Intuc says: “Ye bacha hamen chahiye Garbo. Hum use palenge.”

Where Intuc wants the child to do away with his morbidity, Shrimant wants him to cover up his physical weakness. Finally, the child does not happen to Garbo, who plays smart with the men by consciously doing away with the child.

The hypocrisy of Shrimant stands exposed towards the end when he loses control on self after learning that Garbo had deliberately killed the child. In his so-called attempt to escape the reality, he kills Garbo.

While the script had an amazing scope, especially in view of its vast relevance to people and relationships, there was something very depressing about the conclusion. Perhaps it was this very vacuum which the script dared to bare.