EDUCATION

Need to reform education system stressed

New Delhi, April 20
The mundane and restricting confines of the existing examination set up and the equally arbitrary evaluation process, has always been a student’s nightmare. Of late, the criticism of this existing system has graduated from a typical student pastime, to a more thought provoking issue. With educationists and academicians focusing attention on the need for a reassessment and reform, the entire educational set up has emerged replete with faults.

“The education system should churn out people who are skillful”, said the Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit, speaking at a conference on ‘Examinations: Relevance and Reassessment’, organised by Learn Today in the Capital today. Speaking at the function, Ms Dikshit said that our education system has still not allowed us to weed out students.

While the focus was on reforms that should be made in the examination set up, the speakers also stressed the need for an improvement in the quality of education system as a whole. “Examinations cannot be reformed because there are too many players involved. The reform has to be in the education system as well,” pointed out Dr R. Govinda, head of the Non-Formal Education, National Institute of Planning and Administration (NIPA). The vice-chancellor of Delhi University, Prof Deepak Nayyar, described it as the “chicken–egg syndrome”. He said, “we cannot reform the examination set up unless we improve the education system simultaneously. There is a mismatch between the education system that has been created and the education system that is required ”.

At the end of the meet, it was also agreed that a high powered coordination committee, including members from the Union Government, the key boards and representatives of schools and colleges, will be immediately set up to reassess the present education scenario.

COURTS

Noida Authority told to remove illegal structures
Our Correspondent

Noida, April 20
The District Consumer Forum has ordered the Noida Authority to remove all illegal constructions and encroachments in Sector 37 here within two months. The forum has also ordered the Greater Noida Authority to pay damages and compensation to allottees in two cases till their land is properly developed and handed over to them.

Passing an order on a complaint filed by Col P. K. Kapoor in the Consumer Court that the Noida Authority had been recovering revenue and taxes from the residents of Sector 37 for providing facilities which were absent. Due to this, residents had been facing a lot of problems. For instance, the movement on roads had become difficult due to their bad condition. Besides, encroachments on roads and parks also deprived residents of the promised facilities, he alleged. People in the residential sectors had to face lot many difficulties due to the presence of traders who encroach on common facilities, the complainant said and added that he had written many letters to the Noida Authority to redress his grievances but the authority failed to provide any remedy.

The Noida Authority’s plea that there was no specific complaint levelled against it and the Consumer Forum had no jurisdiction and right to hear the plea against it was rejected by the Consumer Forum. Chairman of the forum Kartar Singh and members S.C. Sharma and Ms Vijay Laxmi, after examining the facts, found that complainant had the right to make a plea and the authority had indeed reduced the level of its facilities. The forum, therefore, ordered the authority to clear all encroachments from Sector 37 within two months and to remove all illegal trading activities during this period.

The forum also passed orders to Greater Noida Authority to compensate the complainants. In the first case, Jayveer Singh, resident of Aram Bagh, Paharganj had filed a compliant with the forum that the Greater Noida Authority had allotted him a plot in Udyog Vihar market on May 3, 2000 but till today neither the plot had been fully developed nor given its possession.