EDUCATION

Colleges bustle with activity
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 14
After the results and admissions, there was hustle and bustle in some local colleges that started functioning today. The new students coming from schools after plus two were excited by the prospects of college life. Sumesh and Kirti were happy to be out of their uniforms. Another group of students was excited that they would not have to carry heavy school bags while pointing to the notebook and pen that each one of them was carrying.

Some were a little scared of ragging though they have been told it is banned. It would take sometime for them to adjust to the new set-up, said some students of Kamla Lotia Sanatan Dharam College. The college reopened with a havan. Principal B.D. Budhiraja said the chief guest, Lala Lajpat Rai, MP, granted Rs 10 lakh from his discretionary fund for the construction of classrooms for post-graduate studies.

An industrialist, Mr Krishan Chander Gupta, promised to give money in case of shortfall. Mr Budhiraja said as Kamla Lotia College was a private unaided college, the grant would help them give more facilities to students.

Master Tara Singh Memorial College, G.G.N. Khalsa College and the Government College for Boys will start functioning from tomorrow while SDP College will reopen on July 16.

Meanwhile, even as some colleges have compiled the lists of new admissions, the others are bogged down by procedural hassles and are not able to give a clear picture of the number of students enrolled for different classes. Many college authorities feel that the new fee structure is to some extent responsible for the admissions being slow.

But one thing emerges clearly: the students’ preference for the subject of commerce. The Government College for Boys is generally the first choice of the students. Figures tell that seats for most of the classes have been taken. In the plus one medical stream, only 20 out of 40 seats have been filled whereas for the non-medical course, 118 seats have been filled and only two are vacant.

For the under-graduate classes, 517 seats have been filled. In the B.Com stream, almost all 140 seats have been taken. In the B.Sc (I) medical stream, 39 out of 40 seats have been filled whereas for the non-medical group, 150 students have been admitted.

In the postgraduate classes, girls are also given admission in the college. In this category, English is a popular course with 119 students having gained admission, only one seat being vacant. In the economics and geography departments, a few seats are still available. All seats for M.Sc (maths) have been filled and admissions for MA (Punjabi) and M.Com are almost complete.

In Kamla Lotia College, the seats in the B.Com course, numbering 210, are full and same is the case with M. Com (I). For BA, 100 students have taken admission and the seats are expendable. In MA(I) economics, 16 seats are lying vacant and so are for BCA and BBA. In the Khalsa College for Women, 91 students have taken admission in MA (history), 56 in political science, 20 in fine arts and 49 in Punjabi. All 140 seats of B. Com (I) have been filled and 450 students have enrolled for BA(I).

In the Arya College for Women, the Principal, Ms Satisha, says that admission in plus one is less this year due to the confusion created in the beginning when it was announced that these classes would be shifted to schools. She also said that students who got ML ( marks later) and RL ( result later) earlier thought that they were not eligible for admission. But now that they know that they could get provisional admission, they too were coming for admission

Master Tara Singh College has admitted 900 students so far but they have not made the detailed list of admission. But one thing is clear that hiked fee structure has resulted in fewer admissions this year. 

Fill vacancies on uniform pattern: DMCH faculty
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 14
The Faculty Executive Council (FEC) of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) has demanded a uniform pattern for filling vacancies in different departments and units. Resentment prevails among some of the senior faculty members over the way these vacancies were filled by the management. The members demanded an early modification of the vacancy list and asked the management to promote all deserving and eligible candidates.

Dr B.S. Shah, secretary of the council, talking to the Ludhiana Tribune, said the management hardly consulted the heads of the units/departments, College Council, Advisory Council or the FEC while appointing any new person. In some of the departments/units, eligible candidates were accommodated but in the Departments of Anesthesia, Biochemistry, Pathology and Surgery, the posts were not advertised despite vacancies and overdue eligibility.

The faculty members felt that in the case of appointment of Readers in Medicine, other eligible faculty members should also be given ad hoc promotions. These steps would help in removing stagnation and pave the way for a transparent system in future.

Dr G. Awasthi, president of the FEC, said after a period of crisis through which the institution passed recently, things should be done with consensus and in consultation with all concerned.The institution should have a vacancy list and a blueprint of the time frame and the method in which these are to be filled.

The faculty members also felt that the fee structure needed to be reasonable or the meritorious students would be the sufferers. “We request the Punjab Government to implement the judgement of the Supreme Court and the notification of Government of India at the earliest. It is appreciable that the DMCH administration has repeatedly asserted that the admissions to all categories will be done according to merit alone”, said Dr Shah.

The members said no institution could progress with an arbitrary style of functioning and without taking the faculty and staff into confidence. They alleged that the Principal had recently initiated action on the basis of an anonymous letter, which was unsigned, and unauthorised. “On the other hand, a large number of our communications go unnoticed and unacknowledged”, alleged one of the faculty members.

The secretary of the council also pointed out that there had been reports in the past regarding misunderstandings amongst the administrators. "We are always concerned with the progress and development of our institution. The responsible faculty members have never given false, concocted and ill-designed information to the Press. Such mischievous statements by a handful of persons were creating obstacles in the smooth functioning of the DMCH”, Dr Shah said.

Students to be told about foreign varsities
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 14
All vacant posts of lecturer in government colleges will be filled shortly and the presence of teachers during duty hours strictly ensured. Stating this, Higher Education Minister Harnam Dass Johar added that he would personally make surprise visits to the institutions in all parts of the state. This was being done as a part of the drive to improve the standard of the education in the colleges.

The minister was addressing students and teachers at a function organised to inaugurate the 83rd academic session in the Government College for Boys here today.

Mr Johar informed the students that to provide information about facilities available for higher education available in the universities abroad, a ready reckoner was being prepared which would be provided to them. The Secretary, Higher Education, had been asked to get the information compiled, to provide the students information about the global facilities available for them. This would prove to be a boon for students from Punjab, he pointed out.

He said with the induction of information technology on a large scale at all levels, the world had shrunken to a small village and enormous opportunities of education and employment opened for the students.

He further informed that the department would also arrange seminars to be addressed by representatives of foreign universities at Chandigarh and Ludhiana to give maximum information to the local students. The services of experts in this field would also be taken to give authenticated and factual guidance to the students.

Extending best wishes to the student on the start of the new academic session, Mr Johar appealed to them to shun disruptive elements who were out to mislead them on for narrow political gains besides vitiating the environment in the colleges. He asserted that the government would strictly ensure proper discipline in the colleges and better education facilities to the students.

Mr Johar also laid the foundation stone of the Rs 50-lakh 16-room complex on the college premises. Earlier, Mr V.P. Gaur, Principal of the college, highlighted the various achievements of the institution in different fields.

Among others present on the occasion were Mr Vijay Asdhir, Mr Raju Thapar, Mr Balkar Singh Mr Bharat Bhushan (all councillors), Mr Brij Mohan Sharma, Mr Bittu Bullar and Mr Jagdish Marwaha.

Series of workshops in schools
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 14
The Siddhartha Academy of Competitions in association with the Rotary Club of Ludhiana Midtown started a series of workshops for the school students here today. Today, a seminar titled “Unleash the champ” was delivered for the students of Classes IX to XII in Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Udham Singh Nagar. Mr Sarabjeet Kwatra, a member of the Ludhiana Junior Chamber, was the resource person. He gave the students a key to success as he discussed about setting the targets, focusing on these and striving for these with strong determination till success is reached.

Mr Siddhartha, organiser of the workshops, said that topics such as “competition know-how”, “personality development”, “art of public speaking”, “goal setting” and “time management” would be covered during the workshops. He said that resource persons for the seminars would be Dr M.A. Zahir, former Dean of the College of Basic Sciences and head of the Department of Business Management, Punjab Agricultural University, Mr Mahesh Munjal, executive director of Hero Cycles and president of the Rotary Midtown, Mr Shivcharan Aggarwal, MD, Engineers India, and faculty from the AIIMS, IITs, Jaycees and Rotary Clubs.

Mr Munjal said that the schools to be covered would include Kundan Vidya Mandir, BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, Guru Nanak Public school, DAV Public School, Tagore Public School and CFC Public School.

Kids enjoy pool party
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 14
‘Beat the heat, welcome the monsoons’. This was the theme of a pool party organised at Swiss International Public School, Model Town, here today. Splashing, waddling and paddling through the water pools, it was a real treat for the children on a hot summer day. The kids also enjoyed various water games like balloon toss and toy hunt. Water-filled balloons were tossed at the children and those who caught these were asked to recite a poem. In the end, it was cannonball splashing contest for all. The pleasure for children was at no bounds as it was very difficult to get them out of the pool.

Ms Daisy Pruthi, Principal, said children had a lot of fun and participated in all water games that were arranged for the day. She said the motto of the whole effort was to allay the fears of water, teach them how to stay safe in water and have unimaginable fun with water games.