EDUCATION

Schools gear up for I-Day celebrations
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, August 12
More than 2,000 students are gearing up to participate in a cultural programme and march past to be held on the Independence Day at the Government College for Boys ground. On a visit to the ground, the correspondent saw some NCC students practising march past and around 180 students of Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School rehearsing some drills.

The Assistant Public Relation Officer, Mr Raghbir Singh, said the function would start at 9 am and Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, would take the salute. The NCC cadets drawn from different colleges, a battalion each of Home Guards and Punjab Police would march past the crowd. Meritorious students in academics and students excelling in sports from all districts would be awarded prizes by the chief guest. This would be followed by a P.T. by 1,500 students from different schools.

Of the seven items in the cultural bonanza, Vande Mataram would be presented by R S Model School. A dance based on the Ganges would be the presented by the students of Dayanand Anglo Vedic School. Students from Sacred Heart School, Randhir Singh Nagar, would present a Rajasthani dance.

Atam Public School would present a patriotic song. The traditional dances of Punjab — bhangra and gidda — would be the chief attractions of the celebrations. Gidda would be performed by the students of Khalsa Girls Senior Secondary School, two government senior secondary schools and Ramgarhia and Sargodha Gujjar Khan Senior Secondary School. While bhangra will be performed by the students of Multipurpose School, Nauriamal Jain School, Guru Nanak High School and Shri Guru Singh Sabha School. The National Anthem would be sung by the students of R S Model School. Ms Bhattal would address the gathering before the cultural programme gets under way.

I-Day celebrations begin at BCM
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 12
A patriotic group song competition marked the opening of the Independence Day celebrations at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School here today.

Students from all six sections of Class VI participated in the contest and presented their group song. As many as 25-30 students represented a group as they appeared on the stage in dresses most appropriate for the occasion. Students were given the choice to present their song in any of the three languages — Hindi, English or Punjabi.

Finally, students from section ‘E’, who sang “We shall overcome” won the first prize. The second prize went to the team from section ‘F’, which presented the song “Hum bache hain Hindustan ke”. The students from section ‘C’, who sang “Aashaon ka sagar hai” were declared third.

Dr Balwant Singh, Principal, Partap College of Education, was the chief guest. Ms Paramjit Kaur, Principal of the school, gave away the prizes to the students.

ABVP office-bearers elected
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 12
The office-bearers of city unit of the ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) were elected on Sunday at Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, Ludhiana. Mr Rohit Gupta (former member ABVP) was election officer on the occasion. Rohit Gupta was declared president and secretary of the Ludhiana Unit and Sandeep Kapoor was declared the president of the rest of the Ludhiana units and units of colleges of Ludhiana.

The names of the other candidates elected are:

Sandeep Kapoor (M.Com II Shimla University (CC) — President (Ludhiana Unit); Rohit Sharma (B.Com. II Arya College Boys) — secretary (Ludhiana Unit); Dr Sanjeeb Chouhan (Lecturer PAU (Forest Department) — vice-president; Sumedha Gupta (M.Tech II (Food Processing) PAU — vice-president; Rajat Sood, (B.Sc. I, Arya College for Boys) — vice-president; Mukti Bhuyian (B.Sc. II, Khalsa College, Girls) — joint secretary; Angrez Singh (Swami Vivekanand School) — joint secretary; Atul Sood, LL.B II (GNDU Regional College, Jalandhar) — office secretary; Vikas Goyal (MA I) Panjab University, Chandigarh) — cashier.

The elected candidates of different Ludhiana colleges are: Ashu Gupta (B.Sc. II) — president; Vikas (B.Sc.II) — secretary from SCD. Government College for Boys.

Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College: Nikhil Jain (B.Com II) — president; Kunal Sharma (B.Com II) — secretary.

Arya College for Boys : Rajat Sood (B.Sc. I) — president; Gurpreet Singh (B.A.I) — secretary.

Khalsa College for boys : Dinesh Jain (B.A. III) — president; Amandeep Singh (B.Sc. III) — secretary.

Khalsa College for Girls: Nitika Garg (B.Com. I) — president; Rajni (BCA II) — secretary.

SDP College for Girls: Balwinder Kaur (B.A. III) — president; Sheetal Sharma (B.A. III) — secretary; Ruchika Sharma (B.A. II) — joint secretary.

Master Tara Singh Girls College: Shikha (B.Com III) — president; Uma Bansal (B.Com III) — secretary.

Devki Devi Jain College: Manjeet Kaur (B.A. III) — president; Rajni — secretary.

Government College for Women: Anita (B.A. II) — president; Sarma Kumari (B.A.II) — secretary; Swarn — joint secretary.

Ramgarhia College for Girls: Harmeet Kaur (MCA II) — president; Nitika Joshi (BCA II) — secretary.

Photographs dying slow death
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 12
Several old photographs, relics of past glory, are going to wreck and ruin hanging mutely in corridors of the local Government College for Boys. The damp wall on which they are hanging have eaten into the photographs and they are fading into oblivion. The intensive damage done by two decades of dampness and apathy by everyone is very obvious.

The group or team photographs of victorious teams, of members of the editorial board and other group photographs of students of different years posing proudly with principals and are of utmost importance to the alumni of the college, but the college authorities are turning a blind eye to them.

The photographs date back to the eighties. They depict pictorial record of different important historical events and are being steadily destroyed. A milieu of both students and teachers walk through the corridor, but hardly anyone seems concerned about the sorry state of the photographs. Since the corridor has an open wall, the damage is extensive as the atmospheric moisture coupled with dampness has done enough to wipe off the cherished memories of the past.

As one walks down further, the photographs are in a better condition as the corridor is covered. But the damage is obvious there too. Unless something is done, they would be beyond redemption.

Mr V.P. Gaud, Principal, when contacted and was asked what he was going to do to stop the rot, said: “I have been busy in admissions. I took over as Principal on July2. Till date we are having admissions with late fees. Once the admissions are over, I am going to take measures to save the precious and valuable photographs.”