EDUCATION

Exploring world outside classroom
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 17
Departing from the conventional book-study in classrooms, students of Kids-R-Kids, a school in Sector 9, are exploring the world outside their school premises and relating to information in their books.

With a lot of emphasis on practical training, the school has been running for the past three years, evolving syllabi of its own in the process with a focus on keeping the students interested.

“We believe in teaching facts in a more innovative manner, singing with the kids, dancing with them and taking them beyond the school walls for them to see and feel,” says the Director, Ms Anupam Grewal.

She adds: “I can hardly relate to what is usually done in schools in India. A monologue by the teacher in a classroom packed with uninterested children is not the way education is imparted. One needs to keep the interest of the student alive and that comes only by way of giving them a feel of what they are learning.”

Class work, too, does not involve the mundane, stereo-type mugging from books. Instead, students on taught to work on varied themes on a weekly basis, enabling in-depth study on a particular subject and ensuring participative learning in the classes.

“Our on-going theme this week is the summer season. Under this, the children are being taught the kinds of flowers and vegetables available in markets, clothes worn in the season, among others. A student gets bored with the same face for long and for that purpose they are taken out on a regular basis and classwork is reiterated,” she claims.

Besides, the school has especially designed its own worksheets for students for every subject right from the playway class to Class IV. More that sermonising on the rights and wrongs and imposing information on the students, these worksheets address the students, prompting them to reply according to their behaviour patterns.

However, restriction comes by way of limited space available on the school premises though that is also taken care of. “We have applied for a larger area and will finally run a full-fledged school once land is allotted. This session, we are adding Class V as well though the student-teacher ratio would be kept intact,” she informed.

At present, the school has a student strength of 263 and 20 teachers taking care of them. In the playway class, the school limits the number to 15 students for a teacher, thereby giving individual attention to each one.

The school is also experimenting with the idea of introducing computers for the kindergarten class, restricting them to games and rhymes. Also, videotapes are used for practicals for these children.

This new trend in education, the Director hopes, will catch up going by the response it has elicited from parents and students alike.

IT programme introduced
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 17
Driven by market requirements of the information technology industry, Tata Infotech has introduced the “360 degree learning approach” to provide a comprehensive learning platform.

The endeavour of the programme will be to promote a three-way partnership among academia, Tata Infotech and corporates.

Focussing on the creation of products, services and solutions, the 360 degree learning approach will not only help students pursue higher education worldwide by providing them credits but also curriculum accreditation and certifications that have worldwide acceptance.

The Head of Education Services Division, Tata Infotech Limited, Mr Rahul Thapan, claims, “As new career opportunities emerge on the horizon, we work with corporates and academia to constantly innovate our curriculum and meet the needs of industry. Our programme encompasses the industry, career, student, product, delivery and academia,”

Adding that the IT industry was a combination of software, hardware, networking and IT-enabled services, Tata Infotech education offered comprehensive career-oriented courses to address these emerging markets.

Students complain against question paper
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 17
For the nine BSc biotechnology (II) students of GGDSD College in Sector 32 here, their last examination today proved to be a nightmare. These students were shocked to realise that the question paper they had received was not just completely out of syllabus but contained questions of a senior class.

The course is offered only by GGDSD College affiliated to Panjab University. The students had their B paper examination in the course today. The students alleged that the question paper had questions from the syllabus of BSc III year, which included plant tissue culture and environmental biotechnology and animal cell biotechnology. The students have now decided to complain to the PU Controller of Examinations and request him to give them grace marks.

COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS
HC employee convicted
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 17
An employee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Lamber Lal, was today sentenced to one-and-a-half year rigorous imprisonment by a local court in a case of corruption registered against him by the Vigilance Department.

Mr Natachhar Singh, complainant, stated that the accused, who was working as peon in the high court, had demanded Rs 2,500 as bribe from him in order to supply a copy of the judgement. The complainant had submitted a complaint against the peon to the Registrar of the high court. He also stated that he had paid Rs 2,000 in advance to the accused.

The Registrar referred the case to the Police Department, which arrested him.

Accused remanded

An accused, Ranjit Singh, who has been arrested by the police under the NDPS Act, was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L Mohal on Wednesday. The police seized 25 kg of poppy husk from his possession on April 15.

PU resident sentenced

Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Panjab University, was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment for trespassing into a house by a local court on Wednesday. The case against the accused was registered on October 15, 1998.

Golden Forest case adjourned
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 17
The consumer court today adjourned 270 cases filed against Golden Forest by investors from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh till April 30 for ex-party proceeding. The company has also failed to deposit Rs 27, 000 as cost imposed on it by the court earlier.

Investors alleged that the company had failed to return the amount deposited by them in several schemes floated by the company. They prayed that the company be directed to refund the maturity amount with interest and compensation for mental harassment suffered by them.

CULTURE

Artist’s expression comes alive
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 17
There is something very fresh about the works of Prabhinder Lall, whose works went into evidence at the art gallery of Kalagram on the Chandigarh-Shilma road today. A former alumni of the Government College of Art, Sector 10, Prabhinder has put together an ensemble that unfolds various layers of thought.

Laced with experimentation and technique, each work speaks in a language of its own. And a varied show displaying photomontages, paintings and drawings that it is, the exhibition of Lall, spans a vast plane of thought. Executed with honesty and precision, Lall’s photomontages catch a special attention, simply for the technique and style they employ. The very fact that they rise above the surface and strike a certain artistic conversation with the viewer explains much about the mettle of the artist himself.

As for drawings, there is a line of thought quite distinct to the one Prabhinder adopted only two days back when he was busy drawing with many other artists on the campus of the Government College of Art, Sector 10. The ideas are varied and quite independent of each other. Where paintings revel in some bright scheme of colours, the photomontages are plain and simple, reflecting the various shades of life: sometimes dark and gory; at the other times bright and soothing.

The works are powerful and will remain on display till about a week.