EDUCATION

School ‘eco-brigades’ come a cropper
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, April 21
The National Green Corps Project launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, last year with much fanfare in 100 government schools of the district has failed to make any significant stride. Lack of initiative on the part of teachers, in charge of the clubs, and insufficient resources with the schools seem to be the major factors of the problem.

There have been no tree plantations, no field visits, no demonstrations of eco-friendly techniques, no rallies, no anti-pollution drives and no street theatres by students. All that has been done is one or two lectures for students, painting contests and school cleanliness drives. The schools have not even received any ‘‘green’’ books to be distributed among the students for their general awareness.

As per the guidelines issued by the ministry, it has been stated that the schools have to induct 30 to 50 students from Classes VI to XII in the ‘‘eco-brigade’’ and appoint a teacher in charge for implementation of the various schemes for the project. The schools have been given a grant of Rs 1,000 for the purpose. The school authorities have been directed to organise field visits to wildlife reserves, parks and polluting sites of the district. The students are expected to pen down environmental problems such as pollution, hospital waste and garbage dumping and write on the possible solutions to the problems. The students have also been told to launch rallies and awareness drives for the residents and urge them to stop any such activities that cause pollution.

However, the actual idea behind the project seems to have been lost since no anti-pollution drive has been initiated at the school level. The school in charges were also asked to demonstrate the techniques of vermi-culture kits, water harvesting, kitchen gardening and paper recycling, but all these activities have been confined only on papers or lectures. The students were also expected to prepare inventories of the polluting sources of their districts and give suitable suggestions to the enforcement agencies but no school has involved children in such an activity either. The school in charges were also told to submit monthly report of their activities.

At Government Multipurpose Senior Secondary School, Cinema Road, nearly 30 students have been made part of the eco-club. The students said they had not received any green books and no activity had been arranged for the club except cleaning of a school water cooler. They said they had joined the club with much enthusiasm but they never knew it would be only lectures and painting but no good eco-friendly activity.

Similarly, students of Government Senior Secondary School, Jagraon Bridge, said the entire grant was exhausted in buying pots and flowers for beautification of the school. The rest of it would be used for stitching of caps for eco corps, they said. They said the school had yet not received any grant for the new session till date.

Stating out problems, Mr Varinder Sharma, District Science Supervisor, said lack of initiative by the school authorities and inadequate funds were the main obstacles in the implementation of the project. He promised that the ‘‘green’’ books for the new session would soon be made available to the students. He, however, said the schools in rural areas that had more land under plantations were performing better than those within the city.

‘Think before taking admission to foreign varsities’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 21
“These days a trend amongst the youth is to enrol themselves in a foreign university by paying huge fees. But they don’t realise that the things appear to be simple but it is otherwise not genuine”.

These remarks were made by Col Harjap Singh, an immigration consultant, at a seminar organised for the students here today. Elaborating on his point, he said: “The students must insist on finding out whether the advertiser is an official representative of that institute or not. The student should establish contact with that college or university either through an e-mail or through the high commission or the embassy to find out the genuineness of that institute”.

“Anyone advertising for admission abroad without IELTS or TOFFEL test is bound to be fraudulent as English is the only medium of instructions in all institutes. Certain minimum score in TOFFEL and IELTS is essential for gaining admission. Further some advertisements often mislead people that such and such university or college has opened a branch in India or some European countries. If a student takes admission to such extension centers or offshore universities or colleges, they will be granted visas to pursue the second or third year of studies in the USA, Canada and Australia. The grant of visa is dependent upon the guidelines given out by each government. Usually, there is no provision to send students abroad because they have studied in an offshore branch or extension centre of a college or university. Often admission by a university or a college is touted as road to getting a visa which is not a fact. The students should keep in mind that admission letter in some university and college does not entail them to visa”.

“The students must know the ranking of the college/ university in the home country. If the ranking is beyond first 10 spots, the students should not opt for that college because such colleges offer sub-standard education. These colleges offer heavy commission to the agents for enrolling students”.

Tiny tots enjoy pool party
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 21
To celebrate the inauguration of three splash pools at Chanda Mama, a new play-way school here, a picnic and pool party was organised today. While some kids simply enjoyed different types of water sprays, others were thrilled to walk over the bridges connecting the pools. Some of them were more adventurous and liked to slide under them. Others liked the mystery element more and walked through tunnels to say hello to each other after coming through different routes. Still others liked to run up and down or preferred to go through mini fort door and explored the secret routes inside.

The kids also enjoyed playing in sand pits. Each of them had own special angle of enjoyment with no compulsion to conform to a pattern.

Narrow escape for students

Ludhiana, April 21
It was a narrow escape for a large number of students of a government school in Chowni Mohalla this morning when part of a roof of one of the rooms fell down. Fortunately, no one was in the room. School officials said there were no damage to life and property. TNS