EDUCATION

78 school employees to get Central pay scales
Kiran Deep

Chandigarh, August 22
In a significant order favouring 78 school employees the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the UT Administration to continue their pay entitlement under the Central pattern and not revert them to the Punjab pay scale.

Observing that “since the applicant (employees, including librarian, works experience instructors, trained graduate teachers and drawing teachers) by virtue of their options exercised earlier and the grant of the central pay scale based on such options by orders of the CAT upheld by the Apex Court were entitled to continuance in the central pay pattern even after January 1, 1996 and they cannot be reverted to the Punjab pay scale”.

While allowing the applications moved by the employees the CAT ordered that “the UT Administration is directed to grant to the applicants (employees) the revised central pay scales recommended for the three grade structure as January 1, 1996 and not the unified scale of Rs 5000-8000.

Giving details about their rights the CAT further said” They (employees) shall also be entitled to differences of arrears of pay and allowance along with 9 per cent interest per annum thereon.

These orders shall be complied with within a period of four months from the date a certified copy thereof is filed before the UT Administration and other respondents in the case — Union of India through the Secretary, Department of Finance, Government of India and UT Director Public Instructions (DPI) (School)”.

The CAT further said “the applicants (employees) have approached various courts of law on two different occasions and this is the third round of litigation which has been forced upon them.

Further in view of the clear equivalence of the earlier three-grade structure to a new three-grade structure given by the 5th Pay Commission Clause (b) under the heading “teaching staff (category VII)”.

The CAT further stated that” We find no logic in regrouping the three-grade structure into one single grade of 5000-8000 in respect of the applicants”.

Meenakshi Mohindra to get CBSE award
Parbina Rashid

Mrs Meenakshi Mohindra, Principal, Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, August 22
The humanitarian approach adopted by Ms Meenakshi Mohindra, Principal of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, in imparting education to students makes her stand apart from her contemporaries. So when her name was announced for the Central Board of Secondary Education’s “Award to Teachers for the year 2002”, it did not surprise her students and colleagues.

For Ms Mohindra who has completed 20 years of teaching in various institutions in different capacities, experimenting and introducing new methodologies to make learning a joyful experience has been the driving force. “Teaching needs a lot of creativity for one has to keep on devising new techniques of teaching to capture the whole hearted attention of her students,” says Ms. Mohindra, sharing her formula for success.

As a Principal Ms Mohindra believes in maintaining a close relation between the teachers and the taught. “For teachers we at Bhavan Vidyalaya encourage every teacher to keep record of each success and failure and we often discuss them openly so that we can chalk out a planned strategy for further improvement. And as for students we set some target depending on their ability,” she says.

However, Ms Mohindra does not encourage her students to enter the rat race for marks. “As teachers we should make learning process an interesting one, so that they get hooked to gathering knowledge and not marks, for once the zeal for learning starts, scoring of good marks is bound to follow,” she says. Ms. Mohindra might have made to the top but she has not lost touch with her students, for this Principal takes regular classes at Plus two level.

Following the guidelines of her peers who made Bhavan Vidyalaya an established institution for quality education and outstanding social activities, Ms Mohindra has been introducing new schemes for helping out the children from the down trodden sections of the society. “We imbibe a sense of social responsibility among our students by encouraging them to interact with poor and needy people. What is more We have been collecting Rs 1 lakh every year through selling of cards and the entire money goes on spreading education among the slum children,” she says.

Give her one wish to change the education system and she is ready to share her dreams with you. “I would like to cut down number of subjects as well as number of classes so that the students get plenty of opportunity to exercise their body and brain by pursuing their hobbies,” she said. “I would also like to curb the menace which is called private tuition by making the standard of entrance tests in accordance with the Plus One and Plus Two CBSE syllabus so that these private tutorials can lure our students in the name of offering an advanced course for the success in various entrance tests,” she adds.

Ms Mohindra will be conferred the award by Human Resource Development Minister, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, on September 4 at India International Centre, New Delhi. The award comprises a Certificate of Commendation, cash award of Rs 15,000 and a shawl.

Academics repose faith in narrative
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, August 22
The growing importance of imparting knowledge through narratives was the highlight of the one-day seminar on “Rethinking Narratives in Cultural Studies” organised by the Department of Evening Studies, Panjab University here today.

Inaugurating this ICSSR-sponsored seminar Prof R.J. Hans Gill, Dean University Instruction, Panjab University, said that the concept of narrative is important not just for disseminating literary knowledge but also the scientific and mathematical knowledge. Mathematics in its performative form, contains ‘stories’ for its wider acceptance in society, he said.

Prof Ramakant Angiras, former Kalidas Professor of Sanskrit in his keynote address highlighted the significance of narratives or stories to the evolution of Indian civilization. “In our tradition all knowledges sacred or secular were communicated through kathas or narratives,” he said. Quoting Hajariprasad Dwivedi, Kathasaritsagar and Iqbal, Prof Angiras reinforced the need to reconstruct new narratives or stories about our culture, history, nation and identity.

Prof Manju Jaidka, chairperson, Department of English, PU, in her theme paper “Thereby Hangs a Tale: Rethinking Narratives” highlighted the role of narratives as repositories of knowledge which necessitate the agencies of “telling” and “listening or reading”. Prof Jaidka underlined the importance of the narratives of ‘niti’ exemplified in Panchatantra.

In the second session, Prof S.P. Singh of the University Business School, Panjab University, spoke on the narratives of ‘artha’ citing examples from the Mahabharata, Arthashastra and the Gita. Prof. Singh showed how Adam Smith’s theories of economics can be read as narratives. Prof Vagish Shukla, an eminent critic from New Delhi in his presentation “On Indian Narrative Tradition” emphasised the basic difference between the pagan and the prophetic narrative traditions.

Others who presented papers on the subject today were: Mr Ashwini Kumar Verma, a reputed Indologist from Jaipur, Dr V.T. Sebastian, Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Prof G.S. Dhillon, Department of Evening Studies, PU, Dr Prem Singh, Delhi University, Prof Rita Sharma, Department of Political Science, PU, Mr I.S. Baghel of Department of Philosophy, PU, Dr Ashutosh Angiras, Department of Sanskrit, SD College, Ambala.

UT language teachers’ plea
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22
The Bhasha Adhyapak Sangthan, UT, Chandigarh, a representative body of language teachers working in government schools here, in a statement released today, welcomed the UT Education Department’s initiative in promoting seven language teachers to the post of Headmaster/Headmistress.

Appreciating the move initiated by the DPI Schools, Mr D.S. Mangat, the association said the Education Department should also release the seniority list of language teachers.

The association also urged the Education Department to promote language teachers to the post of lecturer. Language teachers should also be given duo recognition in their respective schools as per their seniority, the association added.

COURTS

Order on Pink Rose housing society stayed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22
The controversial case involving membership of five IAS officers in the Pink Rose Group Housing Cooperative Society has taken a new turn. The Secretary Cooperation, Mr M.P Singh, has stayed the order of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) which had sought the dissolution of the society.

The Deputy Commissioner-cum-Registrar Cooperative Societies, Mr Arun Kumar, had ordered on July 19 to cancel the membership of five Punjab cadre IAS officers and a few influential persons who had been wrongly made members of a cooperative housing society. The managing committee of the society has been scrapped and an Administrator has been appointed to run its affairs.

He had said the Pink Rose Cooperative Housing Society had wrongly substituted members and inducted IAS officers.

An administrator, Mr R.D. Aggarwal, has been appointed to look into each aspect of the society like conducting elections and carrying out the day to day affairs.

An inquiry conducted by Director (IT), Mr Vivek Atray, has found that Joint Secretary Finance, Chandigarh Administration, Mr Dalip Kumar, DC Gurdaspur, Mr K.A.P. Sinha, Municipal Commissioner, Bhatinda, Mr D.K. Tewari and other IAS officers Mr Hussan Lal and Mr Alok Sekhar had become members of society and had replaced members who had paid lakhs.

This order has been stayed by Mr M.P. Singh till the next hearing of the case. It may be recollected that on June 3 The Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted how the names of seven city residents who had paid a few lakhs each to own flats in Chandigarh had been deleted from the list of the original allottees. The original allottees — Mr A.S. Kohli, Mr Raj Kumar Kaushal, Mr Kartar Singh, Mr Balraj Kaundal, Mr Madan Gopal Goyal, Mr Dev Raj Wadhawan and Mr Prem Puri — have been members of the society for more than two decades and have been paying installments of land and also the initial cost of construction demanded by the society. They had paid up between Rs 1.61 lakh to Rs 2.83 lakh each.

Two get life term for murder
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, August 22
Two city men, Inderjit Singh and Rohit Makker, were today sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by a local court. The two had murdered a resident of Sector 44-C, Harvinder Singh Brar, on February 14, 2001.

The two were convicted and also fined Rs 1,000 by the UT Additional and Sessions Judge, Mr J.S Klar. In the case of default of fine, the two have to undergo an additional one-year imprisonment.

The accused had pleaded in the court that they were in police custody when the incident took place, claiming that they were falsely implicated in the case. They had also deposed four witnesses in their defence.

According to the police, Inderjit and Rohit had murdered Harvinder with the intention of committing robbery in his house. The accused, who were working as marketing executives with the State Bank of India, had met the wife of the deceased, who was a teacher in a government school in Sector 43 about 10 days prior to the incident.