Ludhiana, September 28
Indian Solo Song was the first event to start with on the eighth and final day of Koshish-2002 at Punjab College of Technical Education. Dumb Charade was another attraction which filled students with a lot of enthusiasm and joy. In all, 24 teams participated in the event out of which eight teams qualified for the finals. Sunny and Yogesh of BCA (final year) won the first prize, Sikriti and Maninder of BBA final year got second position and Shweta and Shivani of MCA (first year) bagged the third prize.

Other major attraction of the last day of Koshish-2002 were orchestra, face painting, mimicry, short skit, Indian group dance and fashion show. In orchestra, 12 teams participated, MCA (final year) got the first prize, MBA (first year) bagged the second position and MCA (first year) won the third position. In Indian solo dance, 16 teams participated. Sunandani of BCA (second year) won the first position, Rimjhim of MCA (final year), Aashima and Parveen of MBA (first year) won the third prize.

Ludhiana, September 28
Students of College of Agriculture, Punjab Agricultural University organised a freshers’ party at Pal Auditorium here yesterday.

Dr M.S. Tiwana, Dean, College of Agriculture welcomed the new entrants in the BSc of Agriculture and advised them to follow the path shown by the great men of Punjab. Dr Tiwana also told them to give due respect to their teachers and maintain discipline for creating congenial atmosphere so that they could get the best possible education.

Ludhiana, September 28
Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Kila Raipur, and Khalsa High School, Sidhwan, began their campaign by winning their respective matches in the Ludhiana District Women Hockey Championship, which began at the Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the inaugural match of the meet, Khalsa High School, Sidhwan, defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2-0. Sidhwan girls went into an early lead (4th minute) through left-in Rajwant Kaur.

After changing the ends, Khalsa High School girls struck again when Rajwant Kaur again found the target in the 39th minute. Despite some good moves weaved by the PAU girls, Sidhwan players managed to hang onto the lead till the long hooter to wrap up the match 2-0.

In the second match, Kila Raipur registered an overwhelming 9-0 victory over Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana. Kila Raipur eves dictated the terms throughout the match and emerged victorious without facing any resistance. The winners had established a convincing 5-0 lead at half-time.

For Kila Raipur, inside-left Manpreet Kaur was the top scorer. She sounded the board four times while outside left Sarbjit Kaur scored a hat-trick. Other scorers were Parminder Kaur and Gurpreet who scored apiece.

Ludhiana, September 28
The state government has chalked out a comprehensive plan to enhance the quality of education in the state and to introduce more vocational courses, which will enable the youth to face competitions for jobs at the national and international level.

This was stated by the State Transport Minister, Mr Tej Parkash Singh, while addressing students after inaugurating an inter-college cultural festival, Koshish — 2002, in the Punjab College of Technical Education, Badowal, 10 km from here, yesterday.

Referring to the fast technological developments at the global level, the minister said now the traditional education system was becoming complete obsolete and the management of educational institutions should lay more stress on adopting the vocation and technical courses so that the present educational complexes and available infrastructure could be used to provide latest education to the coming generations.

He said with the advancements in information and technology and induction of computers at all levels, the whole world had shrunken to a small village opening a lot of job opportunities to the technically qualified people in all countries of the world.

He said to create maximum job opportunities in the industrial sector in Punjab, the state government was shortly bringing its new industrial policy, which would be more facilitated. He said stress would be laid to involve the corporate sector in the management of the government technical institutions so that the students could be trained as per the requirements of the local industry.

Appreciating the achievements of the Punjab College of Technical Education during its short tenure in the fields of education, sports and cultural activities, the minister said such institution were the valuable asset of society, which substantially contribute for the proper nourishing of coming generations.

Mr Malkiat Singh Dakha, MLA, while addressing the gathering exhorted the students to actively participate in the extra-curricular activities along with their studies so that their personalities could be properly developed and they could face any kind of challenges in their future lives.