EDUCATION

Panjab University session from July 1
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
The next academic session(2003-2004) at Panjab University and affiliated colleges will commence from July 1 with classes for second and third-year students.

A formal decision to this regard was taken by a high-level committee of the university, reliable sources said. The meeting conducted under the chairmanship of Prof K.N.Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, was attended by Prof Paramjit Singh, Registrar, Dr Sodhi Ram, Controller of Examination, Mr Ashok Raj Bhandari, Prof Charanjit Chawla, Dr Virender Kapoor and Prof R.C.Sobti.

A final decision in this regard will be taken at the Syndicate meeting later this month.

Admissions will continue till July 12. Late admissions with the permission of the principal or the head of department will continue till July 26.

Late admissions with the permission of the Vice-Chancellor will be allowed till August 30.

Classes for the new admissions (first-year classes) in all courses are expected to commence from July 14 onwards.

Teaching for the ongoing classes, including second and third years, in different courses in colleges is expected to commence from day one. This also extends to second-year classes at the postgraduate level. The university will duly inform the principals and heads of departments on the campus to coordinate with teachers to commence the classes on time.

Importantly, the university will request the Punjab School Education Board for timely declaration of annual examination results of plus two classes so that admissions in the first-year commence well on time.

The admissions pertain to all undergraduate and postgraduate classes of arts, science, commerce, Bachelor in Business Administration, Computer Application and M.Sc. (Information Technology) where the examinations are held on an annual basis.

The university has decided to have the autumn recess between September 28 and October 5.

This period will be used for the conduct of supplementary examination. The third session will be conducted from January 9, 2004 till March 31, 2004. This session will be preceded by winter break from December 28.

Practical examinations will be conducted during the third academic term, which commences in January, 2004.

Interestingly, the total number of teaching days have been worked out at 206. These are well beyond the UGC recommendation for 180 days.

The summer vacation commences on May 11.

B.Ed must be a 2-yr course: Rajput
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
Coming down heavily on the quality of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed), the Director of National Council for Education and Research Training (NCERT), Mr J.S. Rajput, today said that the duration of B.Ed for training teachers should be two years. He was here to attend a seminar at Panjab University.

He said the proposal to increase the duration of B.Ed to two years was recommended to the Central Government about two years ago and states like Maharashtra had already implemented it.

The NCERT Director said most teachers had obtained B.Ed degrees from various universities through correspondence courses and their knowledge of educational matters and teaching techniques was inadequate, thereby making a mockery of the system and playing with the careers and future of students.

He said in the present system of one-year B.Ed courses, the academic activity amounted to just five months per session. Consequently, good performance could not be expected from teachers.

Stating that the NCERT’s endeavour was to produce quality teachers, he said for the purpose, the council would encourage institutes wanting to run two-year B.Ed courses.

Mr Rajput said there should be no examinations for students up to Class V and their promotion to the next class should be entirely on the teachers’ assessment. He said we should have faith in the teachers, despite their shortcomings.

In higher classes, Mr Rajput said, the grading system should be introduced and the present practice of awarding marks to judge the students’ performance should be done away with.

On the issue of non-availability of NCERT textbooks for the 2002-03 session, Mr Rajput clarified that the matter pertaining to the contents of the textbooks had been cleared by the Supreme Court only in September, 2002. It was after getting the go-ahead from the SC that the process of printing had been initiated.

Expressing regret over the delay in availability of textbooks, he said for the next session, books would be available by March, 2003.

Focus on changing trends of globalisation
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
Changing trends of globalisation were discussed at a seminar organised at the Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, here today. In his talk, the noted cardiovascular surgeon, Dr Swaraj Singh, emphasised that the future teachers had to shoulder the Herculean task of instilling the spirit of nationalism among students.

He said today we felt powerless to change the course of our lives. He added that many people got engulfed in materialism in their search for belonging, while some buried their pain and anger in drugs and destructive activities.

He also touched upon the difference between the status of women in eastern and western cultures, and the role played by Indian women in the upbringing of their children.

Earlier, a seminar on dynamic memory was also organised in the college. National record holder Biswaroop Roy Chowdhary demonstrated the skills of quick learning, retention and recalling to students of the college. He also demonstrated methods of improving memory, tackling absentmindedness an developing concentration.

SD College wins song contest
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, February 8
An inter-college song competition marked the conclusion of the Government College golden-jubilee celebrations in Sector 11 here today. The team of the Sector 32 GGD SD College, comprising Rajan and Poonam, won the overall trophy in the ‘geet-ghazal’ competition.

Ashutosh of the Sector 46 Government College, Poonam of the Sector 32 GGD SD College and Gurpreet of the host college bagged the first, second and third positions, respectively, in the competition.

In the folk-song competition, Rajan of the Sector 32 GGD SD College, Gurinder of the Sector 11 Government College for Girls and Jarnail Singh of the SAS Nagar Government College won the first, second and third positions, respectively.

Prof Yash Pal Singh, musician and vocalist, was the chief guest on the occasion and he gave away the prizes to the winners. Those present on the occasion included Prof Balwinder Singh, Principal of the college, and Prof K.K. Wig, Dean Co-curricular Activities.

GGS Vidya Mandir gets Rs 50,000 for library
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8
Guru Gobind Singh Vidya Mandir organised its second annual prize distribution function on Thursday at Ratwara Sahib. Its founder, Sant Baba Waryam Singh Ji Maharaj, had opened this English medium school along with IT College and many other institutions. His son, Mr Manjit Singh Gill from Chicago, was the chief guest. He donated Rs 50,000 for the school’s library. His daughter, Ms Baldev Kaur from England, along with a former minister and former president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Santokh Singh Randhawa, presided over the function. The vice-chairman, VGRMC Trust, Sant Baba Harpal Singh Ji, gave away the prizes and said the school was equipped with modern equipment and facilities and had a universal approach.

The ‘jungle dance’ spreading the message of afforestation, western dance, Hindi skit based on the unity and a dance on national integration were adjudged as best items.

English play ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ won applause for its perfect presentation and costumes. The highlight of the show was the engrossing Punjabi historical play ‘Sher-e-Punjab — Maharaja Ranjit Singh’.

The annual report of the school was read by the Principal, Ms Gurnam Kaur Grewal, who also highlighted the results and achievements of the school.

Bahuguna motivates teachers
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, February 8
In a two-day environment-education refresher course organised by the State Institute of Science Education (Punjab), 110 teachers of the Ropar district participated. The course, organised in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, concluded in the Sector 41 Shivalik Public School here today.

The course was aimed at enriching the knowledge of environment-education teachers and receiving feedback. Environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna shared his experiences in environment protection with the teachers. Mr K.K. Bhatnagar, Principal Secretary Education of Punjab, said the government would help the schools of Punjab run environment projects. He urged the teachers to work with devotion towards the cause.

Ms Surinder Dhingra, Director SISE and nodal officer of the Environment Education Project gave a background of the project. From eight districts, 100 schools have been selected to be part of the project, initially.

Mr D.S. Bedi, Director Principal of Shivalik Public School, thanked Mr Bahuguna and the other guests. A similar course for 50 teachers of the Patiala district, organised in the Banur Government Senior Secondary School, also concluded today.

CULTURE

FILM REVIEW
Raveena all the way
Sanjeev Singh Bariana

‘Satta’ (Neelam) is another decent presentation where the credit goes to Madhur Bhandarkar, the director. The director is fast making his name among the better ones in the Bollywood arena as even his last release ‘Chandni Bar ‘ had earned rave reviews and Tabu had bagged the best actress award at different fora.

The storyline is an interesting package showing an average woman making her way into the world of politics. The hindrances are quite expected, but, the beauty lies in selection of the final screening of events. Raveena has done a commendable role. The twists and turns in the plot are the waters of voyage of a woman from nowhere to the top of the political game.

This story also features Suchitra Pillai, Govind Namdeo, Abhay Bhargava, Atul Kulkarni, Sriballabh Vyas and Sameer.

Made under the banner of Metalight Productions, ‘Satta’ has lyrics by Javed Akhtar.

“Khushi” (Piccadily and KC, Panchkula) is a light romantic story on youthful campus settings which loses grace due to a loose packaging. It is a story that begins well but loses out its charm due to lesser attention paid to characterisation.

Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor is a charming pair. The boy is born in Calcutta and the girl in a small hilly town of Uttar Pradesh. The boy is a simple lad who falls in love at first sight when the duo meet on a common campus in Mumbai. The girl too falls in love but she is too haughty to accept the truth. The couple is engaged in sorting out the old differences most of the time. Meanwhile, new ones crop up.

The Surinder Kapoor-Boney Kapoor presentation is unlikely to taste reasonable success although the initial rushes are quite expected. S.J. Suryah in the director’s chair has shown sparks of brilliance, however, the gem needs more polish. Sameer has penned the lyrics while Anu Malik in his music is mentionable in certain parts.

The film also stars Amrish Puri, Anup Soni, Neeraj Vora, Navin Nischal, Sharat saxena and Beena. This one is a role that Johny Lever has little to cherish in his memories.

‘Baaz - A bird in danger’ (KC and Bassi, SAS Nagar) is another thriller in the series of recent success stories including ‘Humraaz’, ‘Raaz’ and a mediocre hit’ Jism’. The storyline , however, is a little different. The show is an average one and is likely to face a tough time at the box-office due to two more releases this week.

Karisma Kapoor is a bird which faces threat to her life from unknown birds of prey in life. The progress of action are the encounters that Karisma faces to save herself and slow unfolding of reality. Sanjay Masoom has scripted the dialogues for the story by Shyam Goel. Ismail Durbar has given an average music to the equally average lyrics by Mehboob.

WESTERN FILM REVIEW
Style yes, substance no
Rajiv Kaplish

Chandigarh
“What’s the worst that could happen,” asked a viewer in the midst of the staccato sounds of the gun. “We could go mad at the end,” yelled his woman companion in exasperation. How true, you dimly think.

What else would a person become after relentless audio-visual assaults on the nerves by “The Transporter” (Kiran). Even if it may not eventually force you to join the fringe, it could bring out the worst in you. The director does not disappoint you. The more you see the film, the worse you feel. When the worst is over, you wonder what it was all about.

Was it to prove that a daughter of a baddy (Shu Qi) can join hands with the latter’s bete noire (Jason Statham) to vanquish papa-turned-villain; that a top cop can help and even leave it to a professional to mete out his own brand of justice to the goons? Or was it to show that the Chinese mafia is involved in human trafficking in France ?

Granted that Statham, who plays the role of US Special Forces’ soldier-turned-expatriate Frank Martin, is one helluva action hero.

Granted, too, that his demeanour has an air of a confident actor.

Also, agreed, that the state-of-the-art BMW he uses to transport goods in a stylish manner almost makes you crave for one. But style is a poor substitute for substance.

It was unnecessary to force the hero to unleash an array of questionable fights after every 10 minutes and in the process “transport” viewers to new heights of lunacy. Sorry, Mr Director, we are not impressed. Your ruse does not work.

If endless blood-letting and mind-marauding action could make the box office go into raptures, then “Reign of Fire”, “Swordfish” and “Showtime” might have been the biggest hits of all times.