EDUCATION

A builder’s foray into the field of school education
Our Correspondent

Gurgaon, October 10
Unitech, an Indian multinational company famous for construction activities, is now poised to enter into school education. Its first school, Shikshantar, will begin its first academic session for nursery, kindergarten and class I in April 2003.

Addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday, Mrs Minoti Bahri, the chairperson of the school, claimed that the proposed senior secondary school was expected to provide new direction in educational services. To address the much-desired quality school education, the school had been visualised to provide education different from the conventional and established style.

She said that there was a need to build schools that genuinely understood the children and provided innovative education to nurture children in the present day for their future ahead. The objective of the school was to cater to the potential strengths of each child as an individual person and as a group member, added the chairperson.

She further informed that Unitech would invest close to Rs 10 crore in a span of over seven years on the development of the infrastructure for the school, to be built on 7.4 acres worth more than Rs 7 crore.

Mr Sunil Batra, the education director of the school, said that the school would be led and nurtured by a core team of three members, who had over 15 years of national and international experiences in teaching, school development, school innovation and educational research. The core team would carefully select and train its teachers to implement a curricular plan that would systematically address the inherent needs of children growing up in today's time and age.

Unitech originally entered the field of education more than two years ago with the successful establishment of its Institute of Hotel Management in collaboration with Oxford Brookes, the UK.

Registrations for nursery, kindergarten and class I for April, 2003 session has already began. In the junior classes, there would be two trained teachers and a host of activity teachers to weave in elements of discovery, challenge and creative thinking for every 25 children. And this favourable teacher-student ratio in each class would continue till standard XII.

The school would add two classes each year to enrol students in classes IX and XI by the year 2007. The building for the school was being designed by Stein, Mani, Chowla.

The first phase of construction would be completed by February, 2003 before the young children begin to make the school their second home in April 2003. After the success of the first school, the company would go in for a chain of schools, the management informed.

National psychology seminar at MDU 
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, October 10
The Psychology Department of Maharshi Dayanand University will hold the national seminar and national conference of the Praachi Psycho-Cultural Research Association (PPCRA) here on October 11 and 12. The focal theme of the seminar is ‘Individual Differences and Behaviour’.

Prof C. L. Kundu, former Vice-Chancellor of HP University, will inaugurate the seminar and Prof A.K. Sen, Professor of Psychology, Delhi University, will deliver the keynote address. Dr R. K. Chauhan, Vice Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, will be the chief guest at the valedictory function while Prof Sagar Sharma, former Professor and Head of Psychology, HP University, will deliver the valedictory address.

Dr Nav Rattan Sharma, Head of the Department of Psychology, said that the department had received more than 100 abstracts, spanning various disciplines, from all over the country. The deliberations in the seminar, he said, would not only help in understanding etiology and nature of individual differences but it would also provide a platform to discuss measures at length, which the individual and group could undertake to resolve the differences for social betterment.

He said scientists and behavioural scientists of national and international repute from various universities and institutes would be participating in the deliberations, which would be spread across 12 scientific sessions.

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Works that radiate charm and chic
Garima Pant

Chandrakant Channe, Dipak Joshi, Vikas Joshi and Palak Pande are the four artists whose exhibition of paintings titled ‘CHAURANG’ is on display at the Lalit Kala Academy till October 14. The very noticeable feature of this exposition is the fact that all the four artists have worked on one theme, made a series out of it and tried to broach their particular subjects through various angles. Palak Pande has worked under the ‘Shakti’ series where she has tried to enlighten and bring forth the hidden powers within every woman. She calls ‘Shakti’ the eternal source of life.

Chandrakant Channe has worked with the series titled ‘Mahatma’. In his words: “ Touched by the serene beauty of the moonlight stones at Shabarimela in South, the play of light on the huge stones, I found resemblance with the great men, I had known…I felt as if they were mahatmas with sublime spirits……..”. The other two artists, namely, Vikas Joshi and Dipak Joshi have worked on the series ‘Me to Me’ and ‘Homage to Kalidas,’ respectively

Cultural inversion

An exhibition of drawings and paintings by four painters from Manipur is on display at the Lalit Kala Academy till October 14. The works of Koolchandra depict the tribal life of Manipur and the cultural inversion. The ‘Hillscape’ series by H. Kependra Singh in oil on acrylic showcases some breathtaking views of the picturesque Manipuri hills and valleys. The serene and mesmerising works of art recreate the feeling that one is floating in the clouds. Y. Gunindro Singh has focused his attention on the Manipuri women in ‘Hill girls,’ in their various moods and hues. Their traditional costumes and natural beauty is portrayed in its utmost simplicity. The fourth artist of the group is L. Ishwor Chandra.

Abstract attracts

In search of space: Vikas Madhukar Joshi. Hill girls: By Y. Gunindro Singh. Serial work: Vikas Joshi