MDUTA alleges harassment of teachers
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, February 1
The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers’ Association (MDUTA) has charged the University College authorities with harassing a section of the teachers in different matters.

In a letter written to the Vice-Chancellor, Maj-Gen Bhim Singh Suhag, the leaders of the MDUTA alleged that certain women teachers of the college were transferred to the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) in April 2000, when there was no classes in the college, which indicated that they had been shunted out deliberately. Later, the teachers were brought back to the college but no workload was assigned to them, they said.

The MDUTA leaders said some teachers of the college had not been confirmed even after completing more than seven years of service on regular basis while, they claimed, a teacher should have been confirmed on the completion of one year of his service as per the Haryana Government/UGC notification. Besides, the teachers were pained over the ‘pick and choose’ policy adopted by the college administration in various matters like examination duty, issuing of memos, assignment of important works, confirmation of teachers, duties in various committees etc, they said. On the other hand, they alleged that some teachers close to the principal had been enjoying ‘special status’.

The teacher leaders said the teachers and the students of the Hindi Department had repeatedly made requests to start Hindi (Honours) classes but, they alleged, their requests were rejected on one pretext or the other. They termed it as a discriminatory attitude and claimed that the Honours classes were started even after the expiry of the last date of admission in several other departments.

Moreover, they said the principal of the college should take six periods per week as per the Haryana Government notification approved by the Executive Council, the apex body of the university on February 16, 2001. However, this norm was being flouted in the college as the principal had not been taking even a single period, they alleged.

Helplines all set to drive away examination blues
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 1
With barely a month to go for the commencement of the Class X and XII board examinations, helplines in the national Capital have begun operations. Anxiety and stress, as offshoots of the examination blues, have prompted the health and the voluntary sector, together with their academic counterparts, to provide guidance and counselling to students.

To effectively counter the examination blues, which of late have started taking a heavy toll among the students and have assumed startling dimensions in the form of suicides, helplines have been started by NGOs, schools and even the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). This year the helplines of CBSE is run by trained psychologists associated with the CBSE schools.. It will have 33 principals and counsellors drawn from across the country. There will be four centres operating abroad as well. The CBSE has also announced reaching out to students through newspapers. The board’s helpline will function in two phases, the first phase will begin on February 1, prior to the commencement of the examinations, while the second phase will begin once the results are declared.

Meanwhile, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists too have begun gruelling sessions with the distressed students. Snehi, an organisation for psycho-social support and mental health care, have also begun their 24 hour helpline service.

While ‘Hopeline’ becomes operational immediately before the result are announced and continues thereafter, ‘Disha’ is for students facing the pre-exam trepidation. Statistics provided by Snehi reveal that 1,638 calls were received from students last year alone. Out of this, 63.37 per cent were of distressed students while 19.23 per cent sought information related to the board exams. According to Snehi, out of the 42 calls of sever psychological problems, five were suicidal.

Dr Samir Parikh, MD, Psychiatrist, offers, “a child undergoes a lot of pressure during examination and at times, parents make it more worse. It is important for the parents to be supportive and encourage the child rather than discouraging him”.

His advises the students do pay special care to improve their attention capacity, maintain proper environment of study, self tests, regular revision, adequate rest, proper diet, avoiding coffee, tea and nicotine, relaxation exercises and avoid self medication for headaches and other somatic problems. “It is also important not to stop enjoying,” he adds.