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January 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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TEACHING DAYS Chandigarh, January 25 While the UGC guidelines state that colleges are to ensure at least 180 teaching days in an academic session, the Panjab University’s academic calendar for the 2002 - 03 session, which is applicable to the university’s teaching departments as well as affiliated colleges, listed 194 teaching days. Most colleges have fallen way short of fulfilling even the lower guidelines set by the UGC. Strikes by students as well as teachers in the early days of the session, non-attendance and a generally indifferent attitude towards fulfilling the guidelines are some of the reasons being cited for this. Added to this, is the fact that the duration of the session simply cannot accommodate the stipulated number of teaching days. While college students went on strike in August, university students went on strike on three occasions. Teachers too resorted to strikes over their demands. Academic sessions in colleges begin in mid-July and end by March. Excluding Sundays, this makes for around 200 days. Add gazetted holidays and vacations, this number comes down further. According to teachers, the number of working days available for teaching is only 167. About a month was lost in strikes, 92 days were lost on account of vacations and college holidays, as many as 30 were gazetted holidays, and the remaining were Sundays. While colleges in the city have six working days in a week, the university has five. This has raised a debate within the academic establishment over the logic and feasibility of having the same number of working days per session by organisations following different weekly working schedules. “It is simply impossible to have 194 teaching days in a session,” Mr Balwinder Singh, principal of the Government College, Sector 11, when contacted remarked. The teachers’ responsibility is to ensure that they hold classes for 194 days, while students are asked to attend at least 75 per cent lectures. This is another point of confusion. “It is the students who should be directed to attend the fixed number of lectures instead of generalising their attendance in percentages,” he added. Terming the stipulation of ensuring 194 teaching days as a “dream”, Dr A C Vaid, principal of the GGDSD College, Sector 32, said this target could not be achieved till the number of holidays was cut down and other disturbances like strikes were effectively controlled. College teachers said on an average, colleges could manage around 125 teaching days over the past years. “In the prevailing circumstances, the best we have managed is about 140 lectures in an year,” a teacher commented. |
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Unrest at PU Dept of Evening Studies Chandigarh,
January 25 Certain faculty members of the department are up in arms against the department administration for flouting the norms of rotation of staff on various committees of the university— Academic, Administrative and Technical. There are also allegations of several 'unfair' appointments. Written representations to this regard have been given to the Vice-Chancellor. The university on its part has constituted a committee to look into the functioning of the department. The situation is a 'strange one' because more than 30 members of the staff signed a paper against the department authorities saying 'democratic' functioning which had rotation in the committees ever since its inception were being violated. The department had appointed as many as nine adhoc staff members in English who were not needed nor " any formal interview was conducted". As a matter of fact a majority of faculty members, who were signatories against the department, were functioning normally now as classroom teachers as well as on the committees. It is interesting to add that one among the complainants is a teacher against whom the university is conducting an inquiry for not taking regular classes for over a decade. The chairperson, Prof Santosh Gupta, said there was no truth in the matter and the university
calendar did not ask for a faculty meeting to allow rotation in the committees. As far as the appointment of teachers in the English department was concerned she said there was a shortage of six staff members. Since the department could only make temporary appointments, so nine had been appointed. Members of the university committee, include Prof
P.K. Mittal, president of Panjab University Teachers Association, Dr Rabinder Nath Sharma and Dr Keshav Malhotra. Sources, however, said the committee has not been able to decide anything. A committee member said the department had not responded till and the committee will most likely submit a report by Monday. It has been pointed out that the department always prepared and circulated an eligibility list of the faculty members which conforms to the principle of rotation and departmental conventions and precedents. The teachers, who were members of a particular committee, in the previous year are not repeated for appointment to the same committee in the following year. The representation says “her(chairperson)arbitrary and autocratic method of formation of the departmental committees this year has certainly violated the sanctity of rotation which had resulted in erosion of democratic practices”. It has also been pointed out that “there is a definite deliberate design to cause wrongful financial loss to the university, the funding agencies and burden the university with recurring wasteful expenditure, otherwise avoidable by making unlawful, wrong appointments of guest faculty. The appointment of guest faculty is facilitated by misrepresenting facts about work load to the university authorities”. |
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SGGSC-26 celebrates founders day Chandigarh, January 25 According to college Principal P.S. Sangha, ragi jathas of Bhai Inderpal Singh and Bhai Harinderpal Singh recited the Gurbani Kirtan. Acting President of the college managing committee, Gurdev Singh, secretary of the management, Bharpur Singh and college joint secretary Col Jasmer Singh participated in the congregation. Former head of GND Varsity’s Physics Department, Professor Hardev Singh Virk, enlightened the audience about the philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev. Earlier, management secretary Bharpur Singh announced a cash award of Rs 5000 each for two college students who could recite the ‘’five banis of Nitname’’ flawlessly. Principal Sangha exhorted the students and staff to work hard with dedication and devotion and to contribute towards the development of the society and college. |
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Skit based on night
schools Chandigarh, January 25 The children of Government Model Senior Secondary School, (GMSSS), Sector 46, presented a skit based on night schools that are being run in the UT by the administration. The skit highlighted the condition of the underprivileged lot, which, after years of Independence and sovereign status, is still struggling for food, shelter and clothing. Later during the function, the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr Virender Singh, appealed to the audience to respond to the demand of the Central Government for issuing national identity cards. He donated Rs 31,000 for the betterment of schools from the UT Administration’s fund. The evening was laced with many attractive presentations, the best one coming from the Ladakhi students of the GMSSS, Sector 10, who danced to beautiful numbers, filled with melodies of Kashmir. A string of patriotic presentations marked the show, with students of the GMSSS, Sector 40, presenting a beautiful patriotic song “Ham hain iske malik, Hindustan hamara hai...” and students of the GMSSS, Sector 20 singing a qawali highlighting the sacrifices that were made to earn freedom and sovereignty for India. The bhangra by the boys of Government Model High School, Sector 42 was the concluding presentation of the evening, which had started off with “saraswati vandana” by students of Tribune Model High School. A Bengali dance was also presented by the students of Jawahar Navyodaya
Vidyalaya. |
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Children’s Science Congress a hit Chandigarh, January 25 The competition was organised under the aegis of the Punjab Academy of Sciences and the Indian Science Congress Association (Chandigarh Chapter). The winners in the paper-reading contest were: juniors category — Nikhil (Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16), Deepika( GMSSS, Sector 16), Aastha (St Stephens) and Ajay (Shishu Niketan). The winners in the seniors category were Kinner (GGDSD College), Preeti (Shishu Niketan) and Amandeep (Shishu Niketan). The winners in the poster-making contest were: juniors — Deepika, Abhinav and Vaibhav from GMSSS, Sector 16, Annie and Aarti (both from Shishu Niketan) and Aswathi Rajan from the Zoology Department. The team of Viren and Gaurav (Shishu Niketan) won the top place in the juniors category of the science quiz contest. The team of Nikhil and Navneet and Abhinav and Siddharth, both from GMSSS, Sector 16, were second and third, respectively. The team of Varun and Dhananjay from the Biotechnology Department won the quiz contest in the seniors category. The team of Sandeep and Reagan from DAV College was second, while the third place was bagged by the team of Nikhil and Sai from GGDSD College. The team of the Zoology Department won the prize in the play contest. Prof R.C. Sobti, president of the Punjab Academy of Sciences, said the winners from schools would be awarded at the inaugural function of the fifth Punjab Science Congress on February 7 at Sant Longowal Institute of Technology, Longowal. Other winners would be given prizes on February 28 |
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Inter-college contest on ‘gurmat vichar’ Chandigarh, January 25 Baljeet Singh from SGGS College won in the poetical symposium category of the contest. Kulveer Kaur from the host college and Jaspreet Singh from Government College, Ropar, were second and third, respectively. Amrik Singh from Anandpur Sahib College won the lecture competition. Suneet Brar from the host college and Sandeep Kaur were second and third, respectively. Mata Gujri College, Fatehgarh Sahib, walked away with the first prize in the “shabad gayan” contest. The team from Government College, Ropar, was second, while the third place was bagged by the team from BBG College. Mata Gujri College also won the running trophy in the contest. The running trophy in the poetical symposium was won by SGGS College. |
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Engg college building in 2
years Chandigarh, January 25 It may be recollected that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had held back the upgrade of polytechnic into an engineering college citing that adequate space was not available. Final touches to the plan of the new college were given at a high-level meeting. Reviewing the plan of the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), suggested some changes. His Adviser, Mr Virendra Singh, Home Secretary, Mr R.S. Gujral, Chief Architect, Ms Renu Saigal, were also present. General Jacob decided to change the location of a recreation centre, which was planned along the workshops. He said instead of a recreation centre, an indoor stadium for basketball, badminton and gymnastics should be built. The students of the engineering college as well as the polytechnic will be able to avail themselves of the facilities of the indoor stadium. General Jacob asked the Architecture Department to keep provision of solar heating in the hostels to save electricity under the centrally-sponsored scheme. He also asked for water harvesting scheme in all new buildings. He also decided to convert all existing basement parking lots into three-levels parking, which would cater to the needs of engineering college as well as the polytechnic. |
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Students show
way to peace Chandigarh, January 25 It was organised to promote communal harmony and national integration. The procession with a float in the shape of a dove, the symbol of peace, was followed by dancers, roller-skaters and cyclists. |
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Workshop for science teachers Chandigarh, January 25 |
FILM REVIEW Chandigarh As a sequel to a series of success stories on the television screen, the mother-daughter pair of Sobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor have teamed up for this production. Even director Anil V Kumar is the maker of ‘ Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki” also produced by the same pair. Music by Anu Malik is impressive and so are the lyrics. Impact wouldn’t have been lost had songs been a few. The production features a number of faces from several ongoing popular television serials. One among them is Nataasha (‘Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli” ) She plays the central character. Tusshar Kapoor is in love with Esha Deol. Nataasha falls for Tusshar. But he takes her as his best friend. Rishi Kapoor is a college teacher just out of police hands on suspicion of murdering his wife. A student enters his house and discovers the body of his wife. He runs away from the scene and is murdered. The group leaves the college. Two years later they reunite at a marriage of a class-mate. A series of murders continue. Ekta meets Tusshar and learns about his
engagement with Nataasha. Like “ Raaj” and “Humraaj” this thriller will have going good at the box office. ‘Dum’( (Picaddily) once more proves the mettle of Vivek Oberoi again. He is teamed with a pleasing Diya Mirza. It is a fight against the world of corruption where the going gets tough at each step as the police and politicians are willing to compromise. |
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“Kuchh to hai”
(Jagat Chandigarh and Suraj, Panchkula) is thriller with romantic knots. It is a direct take-off from a Hollywood hit “ I Know What You Did Last Summer”.