The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

MCD teachers not given April salaries: Subhash Arya
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24
Mr Subhash Arya, Leader of Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), today expressed grave concern over the non-payment of salaries to nearly 18,700 teachers working in the MCD-run schools.

He regretted that till today, the teachers had not been paid their salaries for the month of April. The teachers, who are responsible for imparting primary education to children, were next to God and played a pivotal role in the progress of the country. It was really painful that they were not being paid their salaries in time. He disclosed that every year, Rs 330 crore was being paid as salaries to these teachers.

Mr Arya further alleged that entries in the General Provident Fund Account were not being made in the PF records, which was causing great inconvenience to teachers.

Though there were 250 vacant posts of headmasters, the administration had failed to initiate steps for promoting teachers to these posts, he alleged. By June 30, six teachers were going to retire and would not get their due promotions owing to the lethargy of the administration. Had the administration acted promptly, these teachers would have retired after getting their promotion. “It is really painful that even after serving the civic body for all their lives, these teachers are deprived of their legitimate right of promotion,” he said.

Mr Arya deplored that 25 posts of school inspectors and 10 posts of attendance officers were lying vacant. No steps had been initiated by the municipal administration to fill them, he said.

Mr Arya noted that the majority of children studying in municipal primary schools belonged to the lower strata of the society. Parents of these children sent their wards to these schools only because MCD provided free textbooks. During the last BJP regime, children were distributed textbooks up to May 15 of each academic year. It is regretful that children had not been provided textbooks this year so far. The municipal schools had been closed for summer vacations without providing textbooks to the students, which meant that the whole vacation would be wasted.

Mr Arya further disclosed that in eight municipal schools, drinking water was being provided from borewell pumps which was adversely affecting the health of nearly 12,000 students. Similarly, 20 such municipal schools had no arrangements for drinking water supply which was causing hardships to nearly 16,000 students.

MDU to hike fees of distance education courses
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, May 24
Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) has decided to enhance the fee structure of various computer and IT courses run by it through the Distance Mode of Education from July 2002.

The university introduced BCA, APGDCA, APGDIT, MSc (Computer Science) courses through Distance Mode of Education in January last year and it was fixed that the prescribed fee per semester for fresh admissions would be Rs 6,300 and that for re-registration of admissions per semester would be Rs 6,000. The university has now proposed to enhance the fee to Rs 7,300 per semester for fresh admissions and Rs 7,000 per semester for re- registration admissions. The Executive Council of the university is likely to approve the enhanced fee structure at its meeting scheduled to be held here on June 1. The university has also granted provisional affiliation to the National Power Training Institute, Faridabad (Under the Ministry of Power, Government of India) to introduce MBA in Power Management (2-year full-term course).

The nature of the MBA in Power Management course is entirely different and unique from that of the MBA programme already being run by the university. The university is thus considering proposals to constitute a committee to finalise the ordinance, scheme of examination and other modalities for the proposed course.

The university has also decided to introduce new courses in National Law College at Gurgaon from the coming academic year. The courses proposed to be introduced include Diploma Course in (a) Intellectual Property Cases, (b) Cyber Laws, (c) Human Rights Laws and (d) Environmental Laws. The university also proposes to introduce LLM course through Distance Education Mode.

The Executive Council of the university in its proposed meeting on June 1 will decide the fate of Ms Sumedha Dhani, Lecturer in Journalism and Mass Communication, who is on study leave since January 6, 1997. The leave regulations of the university say that “when an employee does not resume duty, after remaining on leave for a continuous period of five years, he/she shall be deemed to have resigned and shall accordingly cease to be in the university service.” Ms Sumedha Dhani has been on study leave (with half-pay) from January 6, 1997 to January 5, 1999 and study leave (without pay) from January 6, 1999 to January 5, 2002. The last extension of study leave from January 6, 2000 to January 5, 2002 was granted by the Executive Council on December 11, 2000. But thereafter, the university did not receive any request from her for leave. However, her PhD supervisor in the School of Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Deakin University, Australia has informed the university that she would not be able to join duty before June 30. The university also proposes to enhance the daily allowance of its sportspersons from Rs 40 per day per head to Rs 70 per day per head within the state and Rs 90 per head per day outside state. The university teams along with their managers and coaches would be provided refreshment at the rate of Rs 20 per head for friendly/university matches conducted by the University Sports Committee.