Give first-aid training to villagers: Jacob
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26
The Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), yesterday underlined the need for providing first-aid training to villagers living along highways to provide timely medical help to accident victims.

Speaking after giving the first-aid kits to the 300 youth volunteers of various villages of Ropar district, General Jacob said that we must have a network of first-aid volunteers throughout the state, especially in villages along the highways.

Besides 150 Red Cross and St. John volunteers of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi would also set up their posts on the highways. General Jacob asked the Red Cross volunteers to work wholeheartedly to serve the suffering humanity.

SPORTS

DAV college to honour its heroes
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26
Tomorrow it will be a proud moment for five city boys from various walks of life who have made it big in various fields. There is one common bond that runs right through them — they are all products of DAV College, Sector 10.

In recognition of the place they have made for themselves, they will be honoured by their alma mater at the annual prize distribution function tomorrow.

However, since the times they passed out from the college, education has undergone a change and for the worse. The good old days, when teachers were worshiped and there was no looming shadow of tuitions, are passe.

Instead, commercialisation has taken over and education is not untouched by the winds of change that have brought a certain deterioration in the study environment. Whether it is cricketer Dinesh Mongia or Commissioner, Education Haryana, Mr P.K. Chaudhery, or even Dr Nipun Vinayak who has made it to the IAS, they admit classroom teaching has taken a drubbing and tuitions are squarely to blame for all wrongs prevalent in education today.

Says Mr Chaudhery, “Earlier, entrance examinations were on the pattern of the regular syllabi which brought seriousness in delivery by teachers and approach of students, which no longer exists now. The teachers’ own interest in teaching has declined and no attention has been paid by respective universities to update college curriculum in keeping with the times.’’

He attributes the frustration among students to lack of job opportunities and the lack of flexibility to choose interdisciplinary subjects. “They are stuck with the fixed courses laid down and can’t pursue their interests,’’ he adds.

Dr Vinayak claims the overall education scenario is bleak and the standard of education has gone down, but he is all praise for the facilities at the disposal of students in DAV College.

“At least the availability of proper infrastructure provides the right kind of environment for hardworking students who want to succeed. The commercialisation of education has proved fatal and taxing from the students’ point of view,’’ he claims.

Cricketer Dinesh Mongia claims that the rot in education has come about not because students have become frivolous, but because classrooms do not serve the purpose anymore. “Tuition shops have done a damage to the education system. The encouragement at college and the interest the teachers took in my performance put me where I am today,’’ he says.

Mr Vijay Sehgal, who works with the Railway, say atmosphere in colleges has changed. “There is no incentive for good performance and nobody’s interested in encouraging students anymore. College life has become lacklustre. In our times, Principal Triloki Nath used to visit hostels, communicate with students and encourage them”, he recalls.

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father, Yograj Singh, would receive the award on his behalf since he is away on tour to South Africa.

The Principal, Mr S.C. Marriya, said the awards would ensure that the alumni of the college remained interested in their institution. “We are going to have an alumni association for the college and open a placement cell from this session. Opening channels of communication will help us in our students getting good placements”, he added.

Haryana hold J&K in netball meet
Our Sports Reporter

Mr Gurbir Singh, President, Netball Federation of India, said in the next National Games to be held at Hyderabad in November this year, netball would be considered as a medal sport. The finals will be played tomorrow at 4 pm.

Athletics meet

Kanchan was adjudged the best athlete in the 22th annual athletics meet of the Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, here today. Satbir, Smita and Sukhwinder were declared the outstanding sportswomen of the college for the year. Montessori House won the best march past trophy.

Earlier, Dr Kewal Singh, Deputy Director Sports, Panjab University, inaugurated the meet while Dr Nirmal Singh, Dean Students Welfare, PU, gave away the prizes. Dr Satinder Dhillon, Principal of the college, stressed on the need of sports for the teaching community.

Various winners in different events were: Rajni Bala, Preeti Upadhyaya, Kachan, Inderjeet, Vandana, Amita and Ms Jasmeet Kaur.

Tennis championship

Gungeet Bains and Anukriti Kapoor moved into the next round of the girls under-16 section of the Chandigarh Hot Weather Tennis Championship which began here today at the CLTA Stadium, Sector 10. Other winners in this section were Amanpreet, Taskeen Bains, Sonia Sharma.

In the girls (under-14) section, it was Ankita Singh, Ujala Joshi, Inayat Khosla, Sonia Sharma, Ankita and Taseen Bains who entered the next round. In under-12 section, Kudrat Paul and Tanvi Goel won their respective matches.

In boys (u-12) section, Krishan Ahmed, Akshit Joshi, Kunaldeep, Sidharth Singh and Harpreet Sharma surged ahead. In boys (u-10) section, Raghav Singal, Digvijay, Garry Amor, Vaibhav Gupta, Gurvinder, Kunaldeep and Akashbir made it to the next round. In boys (under-14) section, it was Rohan, Gurmohit, Jai Vinod, Harkamal, Yuvresh, Chetanya, Pavel, Anant, Sidharth, Sahil, Dipinder, Shiva, Anant Puri, Kinshuk and Inderjot who sailed into the next round of the meet.

Kho-kho tourney

The Chandigarh State Kho-Kho Association will hold the UT senior and junior kho-kho championship to be held at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, on March 29 and 30, said Mr R. Sharan, secretary of the association.

Haryana cagers win

AMBALA
The Haryana basketball team has won the gold medal in the All-India Forest Games held at Faridabad. The Forest officer, Mr Ramvir Singh, said the team was headed by S. Narayan, K.D. Sharma was the coach of the team.

ADMINISTRATION

Shifting of SDM office delayed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26
Permission has been given to the Punjab Olympic Association to continue with its occupation of the building earmarked for use by the SDM (South). The permission is granted till April 25.

The office was to be shifted to Sports Complex in Sector 42. Thanks to lack of effort on part of the administration which had planned to shift the office of the SDM (South) and the SDM (East) to their respective areas of operation. The office of the SDM (East) was to be shifted from Sector 17 within two months to its new location near the CTU workshop in Industrial Area, Phase I. This has not been shifted so far.

Despite the plan, the space in Sector 42, meant for the office of the SDM (South), was allocated to the Punjab Olympic Association (POA) for organising the national games. The POA was served notice to vacate the premises till February 28. But is has asked for six months’ time. Sources say a senior Delhi-based politician is exerting pressure and wants the POA to retain the office.

The shifting the SDMs’ offices to their respective area of operations has been the long-standing demand of city residents.

The plan was to shift licensing and registration of vehicles by April 1 this year. Till then, the contract with Tata Infotech, which issues smart cards on behalf of the administration, was to be re-negotiated. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, was asked to post new staff from among the 133 employees who have been rendered surplus in the Printing and Stationery Department.