EDUCATION

UGC directive: Emergency DUTA meeting on July 31
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 26
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has convened an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee on July 31 to discuss the course of action in the wake of the directive by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) stipulating a ‘moratorium’ on appointments of teachers.

Accusing the UGC and the MHRD of creating “academic anarchy” and “disrupting the teaching-learning process”, the teachers’ association said in a statement that “it is clear the MHRD and UGC are not concerned about improving academic output but in fact about making the educational institutions dysfunctional”.

In a communication to college principals recently, the UGC had directed that 80 per cent of all vacant posts should be filled on a temporary basis for three months. This was followed by another missive yesterday to freeze all recruitment, reduce total staff (teaching and non-teaching) strength by 10 per cent and abolish all vacant posts that are older than a year.

DUTA had said that “the letter from the UGC to the colleges has created utter confusion with some principals reacting in panic, stalling appointments and demanding that teachers implement the 22-hour workload referred to as the UGC regulations,” adding that there was no mention of such a 22-hour workload in the actual UGC Regulation which instead clearly states that “no teacher shall be expected to lecture/discussion for more than three clock hours per day”.

As a result, several classes are being disrupted and students are not getting the required hours of teaching, DUTA said.

The Delhi University Researchers’ Association (DURA) has also reacted strongly to the UGC directive. In a statement issued today DURA president Sanjay Tiwary said the decision was “illogical and irrational”.

Demanding the immediate withdrawal of the directive, the DURA president said research scholars across all universities in the country would launch a collective agitation to protest against the move.

The Chairman of Academics for Action and Development (AAD) and former DUTA President, Dr S. S. Rathi, said the second communication had compounded the crisis.

Sony International prize for IGNOU film
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 26
A film made by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was given Sony International ICD Prize. The prize giving ceremony was held in the Capital. The Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, Prof H. P. Dikshit, received the award on behalf of the university. Mr Masahisa Goto, General Manager, Broadcast and Professional Products Division of Sony India, presented the prize.

The awarded film, entitled “On the Threshold of a New Century,” is based on the theme of women’s empowerment. It deals with the trials and tribulations of two village women sarpanches, who, being a study in contrast, are trying their level best to improve the village conditions.

Prof M. Aslam, Dr Debal Singh Roy and Dr Gopinath Pradhan of the IGNOU faculty provided content expertise to the film. The film was conceived and directed by Mr Daljeet Sachedeva and produced by the Electronic Media Production Centre, IGNOU. It was funded by the Asian Development Bank through Price Waterhouse.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof H. P. Dikshit, speaking on the occasion, expressed his happiness and congratulated all concerned for receiving international recognition. He said this was another step towards IGNOU’s motto of “Reaching the Unreached”.

Katha’s school on wheels for street kids gathers speed
Smriti Kak

New Delhi, July 26
It is not always easy to convince a child, more so if the child happens to be a breadwinner and is tutored to suit a certain lifestyle. When Katha, an NGO, initiated a project to teach street children, they met with not just opposition from the parents and the contractors who introduce these children to work and get a cut from their earnings, but also scepticism from the children themselves.

A request to stay clean earned this remark, “Hum sunder ho jayenge toh hamein beych doge?” (Will you sell us once we start looking good ?) Questions such as these and obstruction from parents striving to keep back their children, who incidentally earn more than them, from going to school, were just some of the deterrents that Katha had to face.

But today after almost a year and a half of having struck to their goal and having earned their dream, Katha’s Tamasha road show has arrived. The Tamasha road show is a school on wheels for the children who cannot go to regular school. The mobile van, which doubles up as a school, visits red lights where the students are taught.

Envisioned by Geeta Dharmarajan, executive director of Katha, the Tamasha road show was a way of reconnecting with those who lived a different life altogether. Ravi, who teaches at the Tamasha, recounts, “It was very difficult getting these people to study. We had to constantly think of ways to get them to come to school. In Sarojini Nagar, for instance, the kids showed no inclination to study so I had to lure them with story-telling sessions and puppet shows to sit and talk to us”.

Ingenious methods of teaching were also followed by Katha to teach the children for whom books were an aversion. “ These kids played cards and so I began telling them that instead of calling the King a king we could call it 13 and thus began the learning process”, adds Ravi.

Katha has started other projects like the Touch of Class, which aims at bringing together children from diverse backgrounds. Says Madhavi Sharma, who coordinates the workshop, “The project is all about bridging the gap between the underprivileged children and children from public schools. After a few workshops children from both public schools and Katha were encouraged to take part in activities like dancing and painting and today the children are quite comfortable with each other. In fact, some of the children stay in touch through letters”.

Katha ensures that these children also get a chance to go to a regular school. “We have already got seven children from the Haus Rani clusters admitted to government schools and about four from Sarojini Nagar have also been admitted to regular schools”, pointed out Ravi.

Donations from corporates and individuals keep the school going and also the hope of the hundreds of underprivileged children for whom the Tamasha road show is the means to an end.

7 Delhi-based artists among IFA awardees
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 26
Delhi- based artists and researchers figure prominently among the recipients of grants awarded this year by the India Foundation for Arts (IFA), a national grant making organisation.

Of the 13 grants provided by IFA for research and documentation in arts, 7 grants, worth over Rs 32 lakh, went to individuals from Delhi.

IFA’s research and documentation programme is a unique grant making initiative in India. Grants under this programme are allocated every alternate year after a stringent review of applications. Following many rounds of screening by IFA staff, every short-listed proposal is evaluated by at least 3 specialists.

Delhi artists and scholars who have received the IFA grants include filmmaker Saba Dewan for research towards a documentary film on the art and lifestyle of the tawaifs of North India, historian Vaghish Jha for field study of the oral ballads of Mithila, communications specialist Vibodh Parthasarathi to document the early music records industry, film scholar Ranjani Mazumdar to investigate the social world of the Bombay film poster, sociologist Mani Shekhar Singh to research and document the Dalit paintings of Mithila, filmmaker Gurvinder Singh to undertake research towards a documentary film on the bhakti and sufi music of Punjab and theatre activist and writer Deepti Priya Mehrotra for research leading to a biography of Nautanki performer Gulab Bai. IFA’s research and documentation programme supports research into cultural history and movements, which are vital to an informed art practice. It also assists research in creative work or efforts to conserve the cultural heritage and expand markets for various arts and crafts in order to enhance livelihoods. Individuals and organisations can apply to the foundation for research so as to prepare valuable reference material and make it available for wider public use and action. Grants from the founding can be sought also for film making on arts subjects. In the last six years, IFA has provided 56 grants worth Rs 210 lakh under its Arts Research and Documentation programme.