The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

Bal Gram: Giving them a home & hope
R.D. Sapra

Sonepat, January 23
On National Highway No. 1, just beyond the Motilal Nehru School of Sports at Rai, about 13 km from the district headquarters, is a board bearing the legend: `Bal Gram’.

A visit to the Bal Gram shows that it is indeed a unique effort aimed at uplift of destitute and orphan children. The experiment is courtesy the foreign-aided SOS Village financed by the Madhuban Trust. It is a brainchild of the erstwhile Director, Social Welfare, Miss Veena Kohli, now Mrs Eagleton, who felt inspired to start this venture after the success of ‘Nishant’ in Chandigarh.

Spread over four acres, the Bal Gram has 16 cottages, housing about 112 children, including 67 girls. Already, five cottages, named after the Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Narmada, Cauvery and Godavry, are humming with voices of young ones and their mothers, one for each group of six children. Most of the little ones have been here for the last few years.

When Bal Gram was started in 1979, abandoned, orphaned and destitute children were brought here from the villages of Haryana. They were sickly, untutored and scared. Today, four children have passed their examinations from the MNSS, Rai and one of them, Bharat Bhushan, is a Captain in the Indian Army, after passing B.Sc. examination in first division. Three other children – Ms Kanta, Anil and Suresh – are holding good Government posts. Three more girls had passed their B.A. examination and two of them are married. Moreover, six girls are studying in Shambhu Dayal Modern School, Sonepat, and two others are in Little Angles School.

While poor children have surely benefited, so have the foster mothers, who have been given a home, children and a hope for the future, which had been denied to them by society and circumstances. These women are either widowed, deserted or spinsters, who have never had children of their own. This is important because there should be no question of discrimination between their own children and the foster ones.

There is another lesson to be learnt from the SOS Village: The cottages are segregated on gender lines, so as to avoid any whiff of scandal. However, at school they share common recreational facilities as well as a joint prayer hall.

The incharge of the Bal Gram is Mr Mohan Godbole, who lives in a cottage along with his family. He is the father figure for the children. He says that the work gives him tremendous satisfaction, especially when he notices a change for the better in the children. The foster mothers, who have had a traumatic past, also shed their grumpy demeanour, after being entrusted the care of a home and children.

The cottages are run independently by a mother who is given a monthly ration allowance to buy the groceries from a shop in the Bal Gram itself. A minimum nutritious diet is prescribed, but the mothers are free to choose the menu.

The cottages are modelled on high income group houses and have a drawing-cum-dining room complete with furniture, carpet and bright posters of children with captions which spell hope. The living standard often raises eyebrows; it is felt that if the standard of living was lower, more children would have be covered.

When this was pointed to Mr S N Roy, Deputy Commissioner, Sonepat, he said that there is no dearth of orphanages in the country but this is a different kind of an experiment. The attempt is to create the best possible ambience for the inmates. It is aimed at giving them an equal opportunity, which should not be grudged.

The children of the Bal Gram receive education at a junior school opened for the children of the staff of the MNSS at Rai. The successive Principals have taken immense interest in the project from the very beginning.

Children of the Bal Gram are allowed to share all the facilities of the school like the gymnasium, the swimming pool and the auditorium. The brighter ones, it is hoped, will make it to the MNSS and others are sent to other nearby schools, where they are trained in technical skills.

An important factor in the Bal Gram is religion, not the ritualistic creed that it has become today but a common faith which these children can hold on to. It is remarkable that one does return depressed from the Bal Gram.

The inmates are often taken to tourists resorts like Bhimtal, Nainital, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Dehra Dun, Hardwar, Mathura, Agra and Brindvan.

The children of the Bal Gram are often adopted by issueless couples. As many as four girls have been adopted by such couples so far, and two of them have been adopted by affluent ones.

CAMPUS
New institutes needed to propel growth: Gujral
Gaurav Choudhury

Former Prime Minister I. K. Gujral gave away 61 PG Diplomas in Business Management and Marketing Management to the 33rd batch of the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) at the institute’s annual convocation held here in the Capital last week. Trophies were awarded to Ms Shaili Budhiraja and Mr Ashish Kathuria for standing first, Ms Swati Sharma and Mr Manish Kumar Singh for standing second and Mr Nitin Kakkar and Mr Raj Verma for standing third.

Appreciating the quality of education provided by the institute, Mr Gujral called for the establishment of similar institutes so that the Indian economy could benefit directly from them.

Former Indian Ambassador to the USA, Dr S. Abid Hussain spoke about the growing opportunities in the fields of marketing and management. Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Mr Subir Raha spoke about the expectations of the corporate sector from management graduates. The function was presided over Mr P. L. Tandon, former Chairman of HLL and National Co-Chairman of the Institute.

Among those who attended the convocation ceremony were Dr Moshen Al-Khayer, Ambassador of Syria, Mr Elyes Kasri, Ambassador of Tunisia, Dr Som Datt, Chairman of Som Datt Builders Private Limited, Mr P. K. Ranade, Joint Managing Director of Indo-Asian Group, and Mr Harcharan Singh, Chairman, Polymer Labs Limited.

STG-Pres Net tie-up

Software Technology Group (STG), a leading global IT services company has announced a strategic alliance with student recruitment consortium of the President’s Network (PresNet) of USA to help Indian students seeking admission in US universities for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Under this programme, a student needs to submit only one application for any of the 56 universities that come under the PresNet. Students will have to pay a one time processing fee with no additional costs. The programme will initially be launched through STG centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

“STG is planning to reposition itself from just being a computer training organisation to a total education center and this strategic alliance with PresNet is the first step in that effort,” said Dr Suresh Nanda, CEO, Software Technology Group. “We aim to provide complete career guidance to our students rather than guiding them in just one area. This effort is in line with our constant endeavor to provide the best education.” added Dr Nanda.

Those students wanting to study in US, now, just needs to go to the STG center and based on his priority, fill up a common admission form with the guidance of the STG counsellor.

Thereafter, the application, along with all other required attachments will be forwarded to the PresNet office in south Carolina, USA, who in turn, will process the applications, handle correspondence, documentation and translation of credential evaluation and criteria screening.

At the conclusion of the process, PresNet would forwards the files of those students who meet the various requirements of the institute of their choice. Students who don’t meet the eligibility criteria of the institution of their choice, are then offered other options, where they stand better chance to qualify for admission.

This information would be sent back to STG centre within two weeks of the submission of the completed application. Subsequently, a student will have to decide and give his/her priority for the university from among the list of universities for which he/she is eligible, allowing him/her to make an educated choice. Once the choice is made, the credentials, translated into English and evaluated to ascertain their credibility, are forwarded to the institution of choice for acceptance and admission processing. The whole process would take four to six months after the submission of the complete application along with the processing fee to the STG center.

Commenting on the strategic relationship, Dr Mark Hopkins, Executive Director of Presidents’ Network of US, said, “PresNet has a network with 91 colleges and universities, representing 34 states in US. For several years, the organisation has been instrumental in providing access for international students to institutions in the US. The alliance between STG and PresNet will greatly increase the access to US universities for Indian students”

“With large number of potential students in India, it was necessary to create a network in order to reach out to students seeking admission in US universities. STG, with its presence in 8 countries and a vast network of offices all over India, would provide students access to PresNet. Moreover, PresNet will also get the resources of STG to expedite the whole process,” Dr Hopkins further added.

The PresNet is a US based organisation of more than ninety colleges and universities that represent thirty-four states. The mission of the organisation is to provide services to member institutions that relate to the needs of international students.

Primary activities currently in progress include student recruitment, admission file preparation and screening student, group insurance, foreign study/travel, and employment opportunities.

STG, an ISO 9001 company, is a leading IT services organisation, focusing on providing advance software education, corporate training and e-business solutions. Since its inception in 1994, it has grown and gained an international presence, with over 300 centres spread across 8 countries. It focuses on advance software training and has trained and upgraded the skill of over 2,00,000 software professionals to world standards. STG has alliances with global technology leaders like Microsoft, Red Hat, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Lotus. The American Council has recognised its courses for credit recommendations at over 1,100 colleges and universities in the US.

Surviving WTO

The emergence of powerful world trading blocs is by nature `exclusive’ in operation and has weakened the bargaining capacity of the developing nations. The stance adopted by the developed nations in the WTO negotiations by raising extraneous issues related to environment, child labour and human rights have further vitiated the world trade environment. Mr Rajiv Pratap Ruddy, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, made these observations, while inaugurating the seminar on “India’s Economy in the 21st Century–Management Perspective” organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS), here today. Mr Rudy said the developing countries, particularly those which have not been able to adapt to the fast changes ushered in by liberalisation and globalisation, have become particularly vulnerable to the current developments.

“In this context, management institutions have a very important role to play in providing inputs to tide over such situations,” the Minister said. Mr K. Dharmarajan, Director General, IIFT, presented the theme address of the seminar.

Mr Rudy emphasised that India is in an advantageous position vis-a-vis other developing countries due to its abundant manpower, rich and varied natural resources and its cost effective production operations. He dwelt upon the transformations in the world economy in recent past and underlined the fact that political stability in India and its democratic traditions have attracted foreign investors. Comparing India’s position with its neighbour China, Mr Rudy observed that poor infrastructures in India has been a major stumbling block.

“With the total dismantling of non-tariff barriers by the developed world in the next few years and China’s entry into the WTO, the situation for India can only be considered ominous unless steps are initiated at various levels,” the Minister said.

The minister said the government has transformed its role from a regulator to that of a facilitator which is amply reflected in the EXIM and Investment policies undertaken recently.

Speaking on the role of the corporate sector, the minister stated that it is the responsibility of the industry to formulate pro-active and dynamic strategies in order to survive in an ever changing international trade environment. He added that academic institutions have a significant role in developing a global mindset among young business managers.

IGNOU VC honoured

The Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Prof H. P. Dikshit has been re-elected to the Executive Committee of the Association of Commonwealth University (ACU), London. Prof Dikshit was re-elected as member of the Executive Committee for the year 2001-2002 and also member of the Council for ACU. Prof Dikshit was also nominated to the Budget and Review Committee of the ACU for 2001-2002.

Moreover, Prof Dikshit has been honoured with the “Srinivasa Ramanujam Birth Centenary Award” for his significant contributions to science, research and teaching. He has made significant contribution in the area of Computational Mathematics and Computer Aided Design.(CAD) Prof Diskhit has published nearly 68 research papers in journals of international repute and has also served as a visiting professor to some of the best universities in Canada, Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, UK, USA and Ukraine.