PTU students’ fate uncertain
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, February 21
Hundreds of students, who had taken admission under the lateral entry scheme in M.Sc (Information Technology) through distance education of Punjab Technical University last year and were waiting for their result, have been declared ineligible.

Students who were admitted to the third semester of the course have already passed it and had appeared in the fourth semester examination. However, their results for the fourth semester have now been withheld on the ground that they did not complete the eligibility conditions for admission given by the university. This has left the students in the lurch as they feel that their time, money and efforts would go waste.

As per the rules of the university, only those students could be admitted to the course who had done a Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications (PGDCA) from a recognised university. However, last year several study centres admitted students who had done PGDCA from private institutions. Later, the university probably went through the certificates provided by the students and declared them ineligible for the course.

The students now argue that it was the fault of the study centres which could have refused them admission. They also blame the university authorities for the delay on their part.

Mr Jaspal Singh, Coordinator, distance education, PTU, said: “It was the fault of the students who were clearly told at the time of admission that they should have certificates of PGDCA from a recognised university or be able to provide an equivalent certificate. But several students took admission on the undertaking in case they were not able to get the required certificate, it would be their own risk and responsibility.”

He said at the time of declaration of results of the third semester, they were told that they were ineligible. Still they took admission in the fourth semester. Now, the university has decided to withhold their results of the fourth semester.

Mr Jaspal Singh informed that the university had formed a committee headed by Mr S.K. Salwan, Adviser to PTU, to take a decision on the matter. He said such students could be made to appear in the first and second semester exams of the course now. This way, the university would be able to prepare the complete results and give them the degrees.

Mr S.K. Bhatia, Registrar of the university, also confirmed the situation. 

Mother tongue remembered
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 21
The International Mother Tongue Day was celebrated at Punjabi Bhavan here today. Several competitions were held to celebrate this day at state level. College students from all over the state participated in a self-composed poetry-reading competition.

Jaskanwal Sohi from Government College for Women, Ludhiana, bagged the first prize for her poem “Khabran.” She is the youngest member of the Punjab Sahitya Akademi, which had organised the function. The second prize was won by Anjali of Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, for her poem “Mein likhna choundhi haan” while the third prize went to Karamjit of SDP College, Barnala, for his poem “Kachian kandhan da qaidi.”

In the poster-making competition, in which 28 students participated, the winner was Gurasis of Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana.The second and third prize were bagged by Neha and Preeti Devgan of Government College for Women, Ludhiana. The posters were put on the notice board at the entrance of Punjabi Bhavan. Five teams were selected to participate in a quiz related to Punjabi language and culture.

Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, MP, who was the chief guest on the occasion, donated Rs 6 lakh to the akademy. He appreciated the efforts of the akademy in promoting Punjabi culture. He honoured Darshan Singh Asht with the Bal Purskar award for writing “Gautam de Bal Geet.”

PU youth fest concludes
Our Correspondent

Khanna, February 21
The 44th Panjab University Inter-Zonal Youth festival being organised at A.S. College here was concluded here today. Parshotam Lal of Government College, Hoshiarpur, bagged the first prize in Punjabi folk singing while Gursewak Singh stood second. In group singing, the team of government College for Girls, Chandigarh, stood first while Ramgarhia College, Ludhiana, got the second position and Gopi Chand Arya Girls College, Abohar, was third. In the competition of instrumental music, Swariti Verma of SGGS College, Chandigarh, bagged the first position, Gurcharan Singh of Guru Nanak College, Doraha, got second and Deep Sher Singh of Chandigarh got the third position. Group dance competition was won by the team of Government College, Karmsar; the second prize was awarded to the team of Dev Smaj College, Chandigarh, and the third prize was bagged by GGDSD College, Chandigarh, and Government College, Ludhiana jointly.

Class V exams from today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 21
As many as 51,190 students of Class V will appear in examination to be conducted by the District Education Department here tomorrow. The department has set up 310 centres in 19 blocks of the district. Twelve flying squad teams comprising two to three teachers from senior secondary classes have been deputed. One supervisor from senior secondary section for each centre has been appointed to take care of the seating arrangement and other provisions. The question papers set by the State Council of Education, Research and Training would be available in three different sets in order to reduce the chances of copying.

Young scientist award for Deka
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 21
Dr Deepak Deka, research fellow in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University, has been awarded Dr M.N. Kulkarni Memorial Young Science Award at the 21st annual conference at ICAR Research Complex recently. Dr Deka presented a research paper entitled ‘Detection of bovine herpes virus-1infection in breeding bull semen by virus isolation and polymerase chain reaction’.