The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

CBSE Awards given to 12 teachers
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 4
On the eve of Teachers’ Day 12 teachers from across six centres in the country were presented the CBSE Awards for the year 2001. These awards were presented by the Minister for Human Resources Development, Science and Technology, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, at a function held in the Capital today.

Speaking at the function, Dr Joshi said, “There is a need to encourage teachers to be innovative and keep themselves abreast with the latest. Citing an example, he said when teachers take up subjects other than their own there can be innovation in teaching”. Referring to the need to the inclusion for value-based education, he said, “Teachers who beat students should be in the police, teachers and sticks do not go together. Any civilised society will not support physical punishment”.

“As a role model for society, teachers have to be alert, agile and sensitive to the educational needs of the country and should act as a harbinger of change. Teachers should meaningfully respond to the emerging challenges by a process of continuously updating their knowledge and also contributing to the growth and dynamism of the educational system”, pointed out the Minister.

Stressing the need for striving a balance between the quality of education in the country and any other system in the world he said, “ I must say that it is important that the global paradigm shift, which is built on human values, should not be lost track of”.

Dr Joshi also reiterated that technology could only work with the teachers and not replace the guru. “Technology cannot be a substitute for a guru”, he reiterated. He urged the teachers to detest from aping the West and ensuring that education should remain free from stress.

The Central Board of Secondary Education had constituted the awards last year to felicitate teachers for their meritorious services. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 15,000, a certificate and a shawl. Among this year’s recipients are Mr Ashok Kumar Tagri, Principal, The Indian High School, Dubai, Ms Malati Das, Principal, Indian School, Ajman, UAE, Ms Sneh Verma, Principal, DAV Public School, Pitampura, Delhi, Mr Jasbir Singh, PGT, Bal Bharti School, Delhi, and Ms Rita Kapur, Principal, Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad.

NDMC awards

The NDMC has announced the names of 13 teachers selected for this year’s NDMC Teachers’ Award.

The awards will be presented at a function to be organised in the Capital. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2500, a shawl, a memento and a citation.

The recipients of this year’s awards are Mr P. S. Rana, Principal, Navyug School, Mr M. S. Siddiqui, Vice-Principal, N P Co-Ed School, Ms Usha Madan, Head Mistress, N P Nry School, Ms Mukta Singh, PGT, N P Bengali Girls School, Ms Aruna Bhanot, TGT, N P Bengali School, Gole Market, Mr Sushil Kumar Sharma, NP Boys Sec School, Mr R. P. Singh, N P Boys Sec School, Ms Paramjeet Kaur, N P Pry School, Ms Santosh Kumari, N P Girls School, Bapu Dham, Mr Raj Kumar Mehra, N P Pry School, Ms Sunita, N P Pry School, Kidwai Nagar, Ms Sangeeta Matta, N P Middle School, Kitchner Road, and Ms Rajni Saxena, Navyug School, Peshwa Road.

CAMPUS
Murmurs of gender politics on DU turf
Gaurav Choudhury

The stage appears set for the election of a new set of office-bearers of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU). As canvassing reaches feverish pitch in Delhi University, the main contending parties, the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) are exuding confidence of sweeping the polls.

With more than eighty colleges affiliated to Delhi University, the DUSU polls are an elaborate affair and for the candidates, it means exhaustive canvassing spread all across the city. Unlike Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) which has no colleges affiliated to it, the students of affiliated colleges of Delhi University are entitled to vote during the DUSU polls.

Conventionally, the DUSU elections are held during the first fortnight of September, just before the 15-day autumn break begins. Bills, posters and banners can be seen plastered all over the campus, carrying portrait-sized photographs of candidates. While 10 candidates each will slug it out for the posts of president and secretary, six candidates will vie for the posts of vice-president and secretary. While the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students wing of the Congress Party, has decided to field a “political novice” Ragini Nayak, traditional rival and BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Janata Party (ABVP), have fielded Nakul Bharadwaj. Nakul is the vice-president in the outgoing union. The choice of Ragini, a second year student of Kirorimal College, did raise quite a few eyebrows and there were murmurs of resorting to “gender politics”. Ragini’s choice was at the cost of current DUSU joint secretary Rohit Chaudhary. Another former joint secretary of DUSU, Harsh Chaudhary, was also among the probable contenders for the post of president.

The stakes seem to be high as respective parties have roped in leaders from different states to woo the voters. With a large number of outstation students studying in Delhi, the contesting parties are hoping that the influence of regional leaders will come handy in swinging the votes in their favour.

Business graduates

Prof. Chris Taylor, Vice-Chancellor, University of Bradford, handing out degrees at the 4th convocation of the IILM-University of Bradford Undergraduate Business School.

The Institute for Integrated Learning in Management bid farewell to its outgoing batch of IILM-Undergraduate Business School, which is affiliated to the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. A special convocation ceremony was held where graduates received their degree from the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Bradford and special prizes were instituted for students excelling in various fields.

The course, Bachelor of Science in Business and Management Studies, is offered by IILM in conjunction with the University of Bradford.

Speaking at the function, Chris Taylor, Vice- Chancellor, University of Bradford said: “It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with the Institute for Integrated Learning and Management. With the state- -of-the-art infrastructure, well qualified and committed teachers, IILM has what it takes to impart quality education to its students.” “The students here are outstanding and have the potential to excel in any career they choose. I wish them luck for a bright and prosperous future”, he said.

Students seeking admission to this undergraduate programme should have completed their education under the 10+2 system, with English and Mathematics at class X level. Students from abroad should have completed their A level under the British system of education.

Students also have the option of completing the programme either at IILM campus at New Delhi or at the Management Centre of the University of Bradford, one of Europe’s oldest business schools. The European Foundation for Management recently awarded Bradford School of Management the coveted European business school quality kite mark under its EQUIS scheme.

IT partnership

IT training major, NIIT, and the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Engineering, have forged a strategic partnership to set up a high-tech computer education center. University of Indonesia, a 52-year-old state-owned educational institution, covers a sprawling 318-hectare campus in Depok (on the border of South Jakarta and West Java) and caters to higher learning needs of over 40,000 students.

To be located within the campus of University of Indonesia, the Center would offer globally recognised, industry relevant IT education programmes designed and developed by NIIT. The new Center will strengthen NIIT’s presence in the island country. An agreement to this effect was signed recently to finalise the relationship between the two partners.

“The new education Center, conveniently located within the campus of UI, will make quality computer education accessible to our students. NIIT, with its global curriculum, will complement the programmes offered by UI to its students. Through this relationship, we will leverage NIIT’s expertise and experience in building skilled software talent and add to the country’s knowledge manpower base,” said Professor Ir Budi Susilo Soepandji, Dean, Faculty of Technology, University of Indonesia.

The UI-NIIT alliance will offer NIIT’s quality training to Indonesian youth based on its technology curriculum “Futurz” that incorporates the latest e-Commerce, Internet and mobile computing technologies. The professional IT learners would be trained on latest technologies from Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems. The Centre will also offer its IT literacy programme-Swift (Short Work Programmes in Information Technology)–to the uninitiated learners. Training of the first batch of students commences at the university campus this month. The University of Indonesia was established in 1950.

It’s curtains for varsity razzmatazz
Sanjog Gupta

New Delhi, September 4
Portable stage constructed at the back of a lorry, frivolously dressed dancers, professional DJ playing Bhangra music, posters and flyers being handed out and a large crowd gathered around this razzmatazz – this is not the setting for an MNC-sponsored road show or a product launch but a campaign gimmick of the NSUI. As the polling date draws near and the prescribed campaigning period draws to an end, ‘canvassing’ for DUSU elections has trebled in its extravagance. Both ABVP and NSUI candidates have been doing the final rounds of colleges, to leave a final impression on the voter.

Tomorrow is last day for campaigning. With it will come to an end an extravaganza which surpassed any other event in Delhi University. The unofficial figures for campaign expenditure borne by ABVP and NSUI – the two major parties in contention for the DUSU office – stand at a whopping Rs 10 lakh. “This is absolutely necessary since we need to reach out to each and every student in Delhi University,” said an NSUI spokesperson.

Posters were pasted in almost all colleges even though the Election Code of Conduct bars candidates from using posters while campaigning. Ragini Naik, NSUI presidential candidate, was categorical in saying, “There are a lot of students out there and it is impossible for us to meet each and every voter, hence the guideline is impertinent.” The Chief Election Officer was more philosophical in his response to the reported violation. He said, “The code of conduct is a moral responsibility and cannot be treated as a mandatory function. The code specifies an expected level of conduct from the candidates as we are trying to imbibe certain values in them.”

At least 30 supporters accompany the candidates while campaigning in colleges. The other activities being conducted in the college are expected to go on hold as the campaigning contingent prefers to barge in and disrupt the affairs of the college. Even libraries are not spared and students are forced to listen to the contingent. While the candidates campaign inside the colleges, their supporters are left outside to shout slogans and pass time through the means of eve-teasing and offensive name calling. By the time the candidates are through with campaigning inside, the college is literally turned into a canvass plastered with smiling faces, asking you to ‘vote for them’. There are other more convincing modes of campaigning as well, which include liquor distribution in hostels and promising large-scale victory processions entailing “fun for all”. If these means are not enough to ensure voter support, then there is always the last resort – that of force, which explains the number of wrestlers that have been called in by the ABVP. As the period - when vandalisation of college campuses becomes the candidates’ prerogative and academic pursuits become secondary – comes to an end, one can’t help but wonder where the issues have gone. The audacity of ‘canvassing’ seems to have pushed the ‘issues’ to the background rendering the campaigning process the status of a gala carnival.