The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

CAMPUS
Spreading computer literacy through teleconferencing
Gaurav Choudhury

Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) has launched a short-term computer literacy programme in the teleconferencing mode.

The Ignou Vice-Chancellor, Prof H. P. Dikshit, said that the university was laying emphasis on “computer-enabled education” rather than “computer-based education”.

Ignou has been entrusted with the job of establishing five educational TV channels dealing with technical education, secondary education, higher education, Ignou academic programmes and agriculture-based programmes.

Prof Dikshit emphasised that in order to make it further successful, communities should be entrusted with decision-making powers.

Deputy Director General of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Mr Y.K.Sharma said that by August 15, 2002, 487 community information centres should be fully operational and information technology would facilitate social and economic development in the country.

Under the ongoing project, educational development in general and computer literacy programme in particular, in the North-East region and Sikkim, are going to be activated through the study centres of Ignou and Community Information Centres (CICs) of the Ministry of Information Technology.

The eligibility criterion to enrol for the programme is matriculation and emphasis shall be laid on ‘hands on experience’ rather than on theory, Prof Dikshit said.

Amitech 2002 held

The Amity School of Engineering and Technology (ASET) held its annual technical and cultural festival – “Amitech 2002” which featured contests and shows, spread over three days with more than a dozen colleges participating in the carnival.

Executive Director and CEO of Bharti Teletech Limited, Mr V.J.Prakash, CEO of Essar Hutshison, Mr Sudershan Banerjee and CEO of naukri.com, Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani shared their views with the students during the inaugural session.

The corporate heads were unanimous that the information technology sector was on the verge of a turnaround but cast doubts over the sustainability of such a recovery. As regards future career opportunities in the sector, Mr Bikhchandani said that things are looking up as the ratio of jobs is shifting from the United States to India.

Dr Ashok Chauhan, founder president, Ritnand Balved Education Foundation (umbrella body for all Amity Institutions) said that primary focus of “Amitech 2002” was to explore the vocational abilities of the participants.

The first day of the festival was marked by competitions such as circuit design contest or “Circuitronix”, car design for the physically challenged contest or “Driversions”, technical cartoon design contest or “Techtoons” and a hardware quiz.

A solo singing competition titled ‘Technoraag” was also held, followed by an antakshiri competition.

There was also a contest on technical paper presentation called “Celebrations”, as well as “Sprint”, an on-the-spot software design contest. Students also participated in “Retrofit”, a product development contest, “Soft-ware”, a software quiz, and “Corpoqula”, a corporate quiz.

‘Environmental Jurisprudence’

The second edition of the book, “Environmental Jurisprudence” written by Chief Justice of Uttaranchal High Court, Justice Ashok Desai, was released recently at the Indian Law Institute. The book deals with legislative aspects related to the conservation of bio-diversity, sustainable development, population explosion, global environmental regulations etc. The book also highlights socio-economic constraints that restrict more sweeping legislative measures.

NIIT in Columbia

Software training major, NIIT Limited has launched its first IT Education Centre in Columbia, marking the entry of the company in Latin America. The centre was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Information Technology and Communications, Mr Pramod Mahajan, in the presence of Ms Angella Montoya Holguin, Minister of Communications of Columbia.

Speaking about NIIT’s plans in Columbia, Mr P. Rajendran, Chief Operating Officer of NIIT said, “There was a growing demand for computer professionals trained in the latest computer technologies. NIIT with its 20 years of experience of training and over two million learners of all age groups, is well equipped to nurture these aspiring students into world-class computer professionals.”

NIIT’s local partner in this initiative is Universidad Sergio Arboleda, one of the leading private universities of Columbia.

The learners would be trained in web programming, emerging web technologies, network and multi-user operating systems. In addition, they will build expertise in two-tier and three-tier programming, event-driven programming and distributed programming.

Jamia gesture to Gujarat

In a splendid show of solidarity, the teachers and students of Jamia Millia Islamia have decided to sacrifice their annual dinner and welfare fund for the victims of Gujarat and Ahmedabad.

At the annual function on April 2, students belonging to four houses of Jamia Millia Islamia, viz, Pink House, Kellat House, SRK House and Sartaj House, decided to cancel their annual dinner scheduled for April 8. Instead, they decided to donate the amount of Rs 60,000 (the budget for the dinner) for the welfare of the victims of the Gujarat violence. The provost of Kellat House, Mr Ishtiyak Zaidi, declared this at the function.

Moreover, the students from MSW have organised themselves to collect clothes to be sent to the needy people of Gujarat.

Furthermore, the teaching fraternity of Jamia, in a general body meeting on April 4, declared that they would use the Teachers’ Association Fund, amounting to Rs 70,000 for the welfare of the Gujarat riot victims.

In addition, they have also decided to forgo their annual dinner to be hosted in April-end, marking the closure of the session, and contribute that amount (budget Rs 20, 000) for the victims.

Added to that, the teachers have also volunteered a deduction of their salary for one day for the purpose.

Thus, a total amount of Rs 2,50,000, apart from other material “would be handed over to a responsible and reliable group working in the state within a week,” informed Prof S. M. Sajid, media coordinator of JMI.

Musical soiree

Artistes entrance the audience with their soulful ghazals.

In keeping with the culture of the university, the Kellat House of JMI organised an evening of soulful ghazals on April 2, marking the concluding day of the annual function.

Amongst the artistes invited for the programme, Kavita Seth, the famous ghazal singer, proved to be a major attraction. She kept the audience bound to their seats by singing some ghazals penned by Mirza Ghalib, Nasir Kazmi, Dag Dehelvi and a few verses of Amir-e-Khusro. She also sang a few numbers from her recently released album, ‘Voh ek Lamha.’

However, the entire young audience were on their feet, clapping and swinging when one Zaidi stormed the stage with a guitar, singing the ever-popular number ‘purani jeans aur guitar’. The number was clearly the favourite of the young audience as it received the maximum applause.

A Kashmiri student of Delhi University surprised the audience by his ghazal ‘Main Nashe Main Hoon’.

Interestingly, quite a few women participants provided the necessary glam and glitter to the ambience.

So captivating was the evening that even the chief guest, Pro-VC, Prof M. N. Chaudhary, remained glued to his chair till the end of the programme. Most audience left the place only after the entire programme was over at 11:00 pm. The chief guest honored Kavita Seth by presenting her with a shawl on the occasion.

Rana A Siddiqui