EDUCATION

Doctors ‘must not’ give ethics a go by 
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 28
Materialism has not left even the medical fraternity untouched. Sex determination tests, illegal organ transplants, negligence in treating patients etc are reflective of the violation of human rights and lack of ethical medical practice. At a conference on “Ethical dilemmas in modern medicine” organised at Christian Medical College and Hospital here today, Swami Agnivesh, former MP and social activist, emphasised on the need to shift from the materialistic model to a society based on ethical and spiritual values.

Father Thomas Kalam, Director, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, said only self-realisation by doctors could promote ethical medical practice.

Dr A.K.Therian, founder of Ashram Hospital Oddenchatram and adviser to the WHO for medical ethics, spoke on the alternatives to commercial medicine. He said India was one of the 15 most corrupt countries in the world and about 28 per cent of the total corruption existed in the medical sector which included unnecessary investigations and surgeries, commission for services like medical tests and commercialisation of medical education. Many issues like cloning, abortion, organ transplant and genetic manipulation involved ethical aspects.

He said medical dealings should be transparent and the medical council should be empowered to set up ethical standards and to monitor them.

Speaking on the Consumer Protection Act, Justice Kuldeep Singh, said human rights should be upheld standards by religious fundamentalists, and all should have the right to good health. Educative skits were performed by medical students.

PCTE wins trophy
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 28
Students of the Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) won the overall trophy in ‘Aaftab-2003’, an inter-institutional cultural festival, held at the Punjab Institute of Management Technology, Mandi Gobindgarh, yesterday.

The students of the college competed with teams from 16 colleges of Punjab and won four first prizes and four second prizes in various events. The first prizes were won in event like solo singing, creative writing, ad mad show and group dance, while the second prizes were won in turn coat events quiz, choreography and fashion show.

The first prize winners of the contest were Aashima Deol (solo singing), Aabha Bajaj (creative writing); Gautam, Aabha and Maninder Saggar (Ad mad show); and Sunny Jain, Rimjhim, Sukriti, Shipla Syal, Deepak Kochhar and Maninder (group dance). Those who won the second prize were Aabha and Gautam (turn coat event); Nitin, Aabha and Gautam (quiz); Jaskanwal, Shivani, Manpreet, Simratpal, Shveta, Rimjhim, Sunny and Gurpreet Singh (choreography); and Rimjhim, Poonam, Luvjinder, Supreet, Navneet, Sunny, Jaskanwal, Swaranjit, Maninder and Deepak (fashion show).

Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director, PCTE, congratulated the prize winners. He said it was eighth time in a row that the college had been declared overall winner in inter-college festivals held at various places, including Jagadhari, Ambala and Yamunanagar. 

Women’s education on agenda: Bhattal
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 28
Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Punjab, has exhorted educational institutions to extend cooperation to the government in bringing about qualitative improvement and professionalism in women education.

She was speaking at the convocation function of the Khalsa College, for Women Sidhwan Khurd, about 30 kms from here today. The minister said in the new education policy, the state government had laid stress on improving in the quality of education in all government institutions. All-round development of students would be the main focus of education, she said.

She said women education would help in improving social and educational standards. It, in turn, would help in checking the decreasing females count in society.

She said the educated girls should shoulder the responsibility of creating awareness among the masses about male-female quality. She exhorted the teachers to inculcate moral and patriotic values among students, so that they were able to adopt nationalistic approach.

Recalling her student days in the college, she said the college was one of the pioneer institutions engaged in women education and had produced a number of renowned women personalities, who not only brought laurels to the institution, but also to the entire state.

Appreciating the role of privately managed educational institutions in enhancing the standard of the education in the country, she said the process of privatisation had been started in all fields in the country with a view to improve the quality of services. She said in future the role of the governments would only be facilitative. Ms Bhattal also distributed prizes to outstanding students. She announced grants of Rs 3 lakh for the college building , Rs 2 lakh for furniture, Rs 1 lakh for Khalsa High School and Rs 50,000 for Khalsa Public School, Sidhwan Khurd.

Seminar at PAU school
Our Corespondent

Ludhiana, February 28
To chalk out a plan for the improvement in the standard of education in government schools without any financial support, the Punjab Rural Education Promotion (PREP) Council, in collaboration with the Punjab Education Department and the Punjab School Education Board, will hold a state-level seminar at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University, on March 2.

Giving this information, Prof S.S. Pawar, general secretary of the PREP council, said the topic of the seminar would be ‘Non-monetary inputs to reinvigorate education in government and adarsh schools of Punjab’.