College girls also join protest
Tribune News Service

Phillaur, September 4
The protest by male students of Desh Raj Vedhera DAV College here got a shot in the arm when girl students and two members of the Local Advisory Committee of the college joined the strike on the third day here today. A large number of political leaders and student organisations also joined the agitation.

The girls claimed that they could not tolerate the ‘false’ allegations levelled by the college management that they were being teased by boys. They decried the segregation of the sexes and said the students were mature enough to take care of themselves.

The alleged insult to martyr Bhagat Singh by college Principal A.K. Vaid became the rallying point for various political and student leaders who demanded an unconditional apology by the Principal as well as his removal.

On the third day of the protest today, boys gathered outside the college gate where they were joined by girls and former Cabinet Minister Swaran Singh Phillaur and former Chairman of the Market Committee, here Bhajan Singh.

Both are members of the Local Advisory Committee of the college.

In a statement, they claimed that they had boycotted the committee meeting of the college for the past two years as college officials paid little heed to their suggestion. They alleged the committee members were often humiliated.

The members said a major grouse of the students was the “non-cooperative” attitude of the college officials towards sportspersons. He said they were not provided with equipment for sports activities.

Mr Sukhninder Singh, a representative of students, said the strike would continue till their demands were met. He said the students had given a memorandum to the SDM, Phillaur, demanding action against the cops who had lathi-charged peaceful demonstrators yesterday, resulting in injuries to four students.

Others who have joined the strike are students from Government College, Ludhiana, Samaj Sewa Society, Punjab Naujwan Sabha, All-India Sikh Students Federation (Mehta), and youth wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

The college officials accuse students of indiscipline, hooliganism, teasing girls and non-attendance of classes.

State award for PAU schoolteacher
Deepkamal Kaur
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 4
Diligence has finally borne fruit for Ms Kusum Lata, a science teacher at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University, who has been selected for a state award to be presented at Amritsar on Teacher’s Day tomorrow, the day when she completes 27 years of service as a school teacher.

Ms Kusum is the only teacher from government and aided schools of Ludhiana who has been selected for the award. Along with 13 other teachers from the state, she will receive from Mr Khushal Behl, Education Minister, a certificate, cash award and an extension of one year in service in recognition of her services.

Ms Kusum has been working at the PAU school for the past more than three years. Before this, she was a science teacher for over six years at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Cemetery Road, Ludhiana. At Government High School, Pahwa village, she served for more than eight years.

Ms Kusum is known for inculcating a scientific temper among students with an array of low-cost teaching aids. Some of these aids have even fetched her awards at the district and state level.

The other aids prepared by her include a model of a windmill. The model helped her achieve an award at the district level.

She is an orator par excellence. This year she won the first prize in district and the second at a state-level science fair where she spoke on the role of chemistry in agriculture.

For Ms Kusum getting a state award is not the end of the road. She wants to give the best to her students and see them on high positions. Her only regret is that she could not study further.

“I had done BSc (Medical) and completed B.Ed when I got selected as a government teacher,” she explains. Later, she did MA in Punjabi and MEd from the same university.

Giving all credit of her success to her husband, Kanwal Narula who works as Assistant Librarian at the PAU Library, Ms Kusum says. “It was always my husband who motivated and encouraged me to participate in competitions. Even this time, it was he who insisted that I should send my nomination for the state award.”