EDUCATION

PTU admissions: students allege harassment
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 21
While Punjab Technical University (PTU) is trying to finish the admission process for BTech first semester classes well before schedule, it has caused much trouble for hundreds of students aspiring to seek admission in affiliated colleges.

Students alleged that by holding the counselling session ahead of all other reputed colleges or universities, advancing the last date for depositing fee, charging a hefty amount for attending the counselling session and refusing to pay back 10 per cent of fee received from the candidates, the university authorities were trying to harass them.

Many of them said they were trying to seek admission in other colleges through entrance tests, but the admissions would take place by July-end. They said they had requested the PTU authorities to either extend the last date of payment of fee or refund the entire amount deposited by them in case they took admission elsewhere. However, the authorities were not paying heed to their problems, they alleged.

The worst affected are the students seeking admission under the reserved quota such as the SC and ST categories, backward classes, border areas, backward areas, freedom fighters, disabled persons, sports quota, rural areas, riot affected, defence personnel and the Sikh minority community, who, in a notice released three days ago, have been told to deposit the fee within five days. According to the earlier schedule, these students were to deposit the fee by June 5, but now the last date is June 23.

Mr Atamjit Singh, a parent, said by taking such harsh steps, the university authorities were trying to deprive students from the middle income group of admission to institutes of better standards, despite their capabilities. He said it was difficult for him to put Rs 50,000 from his hard-earned savings at stake.

Mr Atamjit said he had met many other parents who were still arranging money through education loans and funds from other sources and it was difficult for them to complete all such formalities within such a short notice. He said he, along with his friends, had also sent a complaint to Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, seeking his intervention in matter.

Ms Pammi Narang, another parent, said taking Rs 10,000 as token money at the time of the admission was illogical and dictatorial. She said the university authorities were also forcing them to deposit all original certificates with them at the time of counselling, thus trying to debar them from taking admission elsewhere.

Terming such acts of the university as ‘disciplinary’, Mr S.K. Bhatia, Registrar, Punjab Technical University, said such steps had been taken by the university to prevent candidates from changing colleges. Many students come here, then try and get admission elsewhere, leaving behind the PTU seat vacant.

The Registrar said the university wanted the candidates to take a final stand regarding their admission before coming for counselling and depositing the fee. He said 10 per cent fee was being retained so that when the students left the university for taking admission in some other college, they “should at least have some grudge.”

Regarding the practice of taking Rs 10,000 as counselling fee, Mr Bhatia said this was being followed for the past four years. He said the university was taking only 25 per cent of this amount and the rest was going into the college funds.

Teachers resent Vigilance raids
Our Correspondent

Mandi Gobindgarh, June 21
No proper policy of shifting the surplus posts of teacher to under-staffed schools has been adopted. Teachers have been shifted up to 80 km from their respective schools. Talking to the mediapersons after a district unit meeting here today, Mr Balbir Singh Ghuman, district chief of the Government Teachers Union, said a deputation of the state unit, led by Ms Sarinder Kaur, senior vice-president, had earlier met the Secretary, Education, and had submitted a list of displaced teachers.

The union also took up the matter regarding Vigilance raids on schools. It said though teachers were performing duties such as depositing fees, conducting examinations, attending meetings and supplying official information to their officers or neighbouring schools, yet they were declared absent Vigilance officers. First they were transferred to far-off stations and then suspended. The union said in case a teacher was found absent, the department should conduct an inquiry and if need be take action. The Secretary assured the union that she would look into the matter, but said the raids were part of the government policy.

Colourful end to summer camps
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 21
Efforts put down by the trainers of fortnight-long summer camps in schools to explore the hidden talents of students were put on a show on their concluding day here today.

Children display their creations at a summer camp at Swiss International Public School, Model Town, Ludhiana, on Saturday. — Photo Inderjit Verma

Theme parties, dance items, exhibitions, competitions and prize distribution functions marked the end of camps.

At Hollyhock Nursery School, Civil Lines, a Hawaiian splash party was held to help the students take a break from the untiring efforts during the entire summer workshop. The children had a great time developing their cultural and social skills through fun-filled activities like painting, interactive story-telling sessions, art and craft and playing with toys, according to Ms Preeti Garewal and Ms Vanita Bhogal, organisers.

Swiss International Public School, Model Town, had been organising the camp since June 2 and 75 students of different age groups underwent an extensive, yet enjoyable training in seven different fields. An exhibition of various items made by the children was arranged in which they displayed carry bags, photo frames, artificial flowers, pen holders, wall hangings, glass paintings, pot paintings, tile paintings and rangoli patterns.

Ms Daisy Pruthi, Principal, said that the maximum turn up was for classes in personality development. Ms Ginni, trainer, groomed the students for various interactive sessions and lectures which were followed by declamation and oration contests. Megha, Guneet and Krity excelled in different age groups. Ms Kamal Brar held extensive practical classes on computers. Kanudarpan excelled in the project work. Similarly, Moon, Aman, Varun, Neeraj, Kanudarpan and Samidhi excelled in different age groups in the art and craft workshop. Twinkle, Guneet and Neeraj were awarded for the pot, tile and glass paintings.

Children were presented with awards of excellence and mementoes of participation, said Ms Pruthi. At Cutes Nursery School, Sarabha Nagar, 70 children participated in an array of activities that included origami, tabla, art and craft, mehndi and glass painting. Dance classes were taken by Ms Jyotica Verma, while Mr Harbans Lal along with coach Nirmal Bhullar held classes for bhangra. Pool party and other indoor games were organised intermittently for fun and frolic, said Ms Surjeet Kaur, organiser of the camp.

Kids of Innocent Heart Playway, Model Town Extension, participated in a summer camp for 20 days. Classes in computers, dance, music and drawing were held. A painting contest was held today to mark its conclusion. As many as 54 participating kids were divided into three categories. Kids from nursery to Class I were told to paint traffic lights and anything starting from letter ‘J’. Kids from Classes II to IV had an option to paint either a balloon seller or any festival. Those from Classes V to IX were told to paint a scene on happy family.

In the junior group, Ishwinder got the first prize, followed by Aanchal and Anmol. From the middle group, Simarpreet bagged the first prize, followed by Harsimran and Tableen Kaur. Paramjeet, Jalnidh and Charanpreet won the first, second and third prizes, respectively. A dance contest was held in which Diljot Singh won a prize among the junior group boys and Harsimran Paul was declared the best dancer among the senior group boys. Among girls, Pavneet was declared the best dancer in the junior group and Charanpreet was chosen the best dancer among seniors.

On-the-spot contests held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 21
In a novel way to explore the hidden talents of students trying for admission to MBA, GMAT, GRE, SAT and MCA, on-the-spot contests were organised in a road show by Top Careers and You (TCY), a coaching centre, at the Sarabha Nagar market here yesterday. The motto of the show was ‘Exploring intellectual capabilities through entertainment and fun’.

And fun it was. The rounds like ‘product promotion’ left the audience exhilarated. The participants had to promote or sell balloons and pens on the spot to the audience. This aimed at demonstrating the selling skills of the participants. The other rounds included ‘just a minute’ session, in which the candidates had to speak for one minute on an assigned topic. The topics varied like ‘MTV or empty we.’ Dumb charades was also a part of the whole show and was based on product names.

Addressing the participants after the show, Mr Viji Raj, a faculty at TCY, said the show had been organised to help the students gain confidence and interact with the crowd. He said a good manager should know a little about everything.

Meanwhile, the centre also held an interactive session with industry experts at the institute. Mr P.K. Mahajan, general manager of Avon Cycles, briefed students regarding emerging trends in marketing and gave illustrations and examples from day-to-day life. The talk was followed by a question-answer session.