The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

MoU with China on education
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, September 30
In what is being considered as a historical step, the Punjab School Education Board has signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Education, China, to encourage exchange between Punjab and the Jiangsu province of China in the field of primary and secondary education.

This is the first time ever that a school education board in the country has, on its own initiative, gone ahead and collaborated with a foreign nation.

The MoU was signed by the Chairman of the Board, Dr Kehar Singh, with his counterpart, Director-General, Jiangsu, Provincial Department of Education. Dr Kehar Singh along with a six-member delegation of the board recently returned from an eight-day tour of China on invitation from the Jiangsu province through the Indo-China Friendship Association.

Addressing mediapersons at the board’s office here today, Dr Kehar Singh said the visit was enlightening, specially when it came to the methods of imparting school education in China. He pointed out that education in China was a state responsibility and there were very few private operators. ‘‘In less than Rs 540 per student per semester, the schools provide them with world class facilities for education which include astroturfs for sports and audiovisual aids for classrooms. It is amazing,’’ he said.

Stating that the teacher-pupil ratio in china is 1:14, Dr Kehar Singh added that there were many things that could be learnt from their system of education ‘‘which is far ahead of ours in as far as infrastructural facilities are concerned. The schools there follow a national and provincial curriculum but each school is given the freedom to choose 15 per cent of the syllabus of their own according to their local needs,’’ he added.

Regular visits by school administrators and school managers, organisation of joint educational activities including international conferences, seminars, study tours, professional exchange of letters, audio-visual materials etc will be a part of the exchange programme which beginning on September 21, 2003, will continue initially for a period of three years.

‘‘Starting with the visit of the Chinese school administrators in early January next year, we will organise a visit by school teachers and students,’’ said the Chairman.

Contest on ‘Best out of waste’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
A contest on “Best out of waste material” was held for schoolchildren on the concluding day of the Children’s Festival at the State Institute of Education (SIE), Sector 32, here today.

The chief guest, Director SIE, Ms Saroj Saini, said in this age of environment consciousness, stress on bio-degradable matter and recycling of waste was essential. She said the contest was held to encourage creativity and use waste material. In the weeklong festival, 1559 students from 28 rural and 24 urban schools participated in this event. The results are as follows: Rural school (Class IV): Farhin, GPS, Burail (1), Julfikar Ali, GPS, Colony 5 (10), Navdeep Kaur-GPS, Dhanas (2), Asma, GPS, Mauli Complex (3); Class V: Sunil Kumar-Makhan Majra (10), Inderjeet Singh, GHS, Khuda Lahora (2), Anoop Kumar, GPS, Burail (3), Sonia-GSSS, 38 (W) (3).

Hindi Divas celebrated: A kavi darbar and a lecture marked the “Hindi Divas” celebrations at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32, here today. Students of the primary and secondary classes presented the significance of Hindi.

FROM SCHOOL
NSS volunteers educate villagers
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
NSS volunteers of MCM DAV College, Sector 36, continued with their awareness drive on health and hygiene in their adopted village, Badehri, as a part of the ongoing camp here today.

Going from door-to-door, volunteers educated the villagers on family planning and care for the girl child. They have identified schoolchildren for teaching art and craft. Two documentaries on “War and Peace” and “Zulm aur Aman” with a strong message against the arms race were shown. A cancer awareness programme was also held.

Lecture on adult education: On the fourth day of the NSS camp at Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45, here today, a lecture on “Adult education and literacy development” was organised by the volunteers. After the talk, “Each one, teach one” campaign was launched by volunteers who pledged that they would make a person literate during the camp. In the post-lunch session, a seminar on “Importance of insurance in common man’s life” was held.

Adolescent health: A talk on “Adolescent health and needs” was organised at Government College of Education in Sector 20 here today. Delivered by Dr Sapna Nanda, lecturer in home science, the talk revolved around the physical, emotional and social changes occurring during adolescence and highlighted the nutritional requirements of children in this age group.

In the afternoon session, Dr N.M. Sharma, Project Director, State AIDS Control Society, UT, addressed volunteers on the problem of AIDS, motivated volunteers to play a positive role.

COURTS

Non-bailable warrant against Tara Chand

Chandigarh, September 30
DSP, Mr S. C Sagar, today procured a non-bailable arrest warrant against the suspended Punjab and Haryana High Court Registrar (Additional), Tara Chand, who has been out of police net since the registration of a case for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The arrest warrant was procured from the Area Magistrate, DSP Sagar informed today.

He said the verification of the properties allegedly owned by him and his wife was still continuing. Mr Sagar said the documents seized from the Sector 38 residence of Tara Chand were still being studied.

The police had initially said that nothing “incriminating” was seized from the residence of Tara Chand. During the search operation in the house of Tara Chand stretching between 12 am and 3 am, Tara Chand was not found by the police. TNS

Plan to computerise all district courts
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
All the district courts in the country would soon be computerised, this was disclosed by the Minister of State, for Law and Justice, Mr P.C. Thomas, at an “International legal conference organised by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association here.

The minister added that the work of computerising the courts had already started in four metropolitan cities. “It is not just the installation of computers in the courts that we are aiming at,” Mr Thomas asserted. “Our objective is to link the courts through networking.

CULTURE

‘Banwas’ scene at Sukhna
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 30
The “khevat” struggled hard with the oars to keep the boat floating against the tide as a crowd gathered at the banks of Sukhna Lake to witness "Lord Rama" being exiled from Ayodhya. He was accompanied by "Lakshman" and "Sita",

The scene took the casual strollers by surprise. Walking down the road adjoining the lake, they were surprised to see the hustle and bustle.

They rushed to see the characters of the great Indian epic sitting in a boat, enacting the “banwas” scene.

For over an hour, Sukhna Lake was converted into an impressive open air theatre as the crowd craned their necks to look at the actors enacting Ramlila. Among them were actors dressed as Ayodhya residents.

Giving details, an organiser said the scene showed Lord Rama and others travelling in a boat in the Saryu river just after they were ordered to leave Ayodhya. This was, perhaps, for the first time that the scene was enacted at Sukhna Lake.

Ramlila is being enacted in at least 42 different places in the city. A competition for awarding the best Ramlila award will be held for two days from October 6. According to a member every evening meetings were held to decide the ways of attracting residents through unique methods.

Workshop on TV programming ends
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 30
To culminate the 10-day workshop on “Mass Communication and Television Programming” conducted by Ryan International School, Chandigarh, a premier show of television programmes produced by the participants was held at Tagore Theatre here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Founder Chairman and former Sheriff of Mumbai 2000, Dr A.F. Pinto, congratulated the parents, children and the training team for making the venture a success. He also gave away certificates to the children who took part in the workshop.

Exhibition to depict city projects
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 30
On the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of Chandigarh, an exhibition, “Chandigarh a visual journey”, depicting various projects undertaken by the UT Administration in the past 50 years will be organised.

The exhibition, having a special emphasis on Indian architects, will also cover celebrities of Chandigarh and institutional, recreational, sports, commercial and health projects. Besides this, the exhibition will showcase the vision of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, and dream of master architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in a number of textures and moods.

The exhibition, which will be put up by the Department of Urban Planning, will remain open to public from October 7 to 20 at Government College of Arts, Sector 10. On this occasion, a brochure, ‘Chandigarh 1953-2003’, will also be released. Musical cultural evenings, featuring pop star Sukhwinder Singh and playback singer Jaspinder Narula, will be organised on October 7 and October 10, respectively, at Leisure Valley, Sector 10.

Gujarati folk dances showcased
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 30
Mrudang, a Gujarat-based folk dance group, today performed at Satsang Bhavan in Sector 26 here today.

Starting the performance with Raas, a traditional folk dance that has its origin at Raas Leela of Lord Krishna, the mixed group of dancers demonstrated fast-moving rhythm and vigorous tempo as they created music with dandiya to match their steps.

Following this, the group performed a tippani dance, another folk dance of Gujarat that revolves on the theme of woman’s household chores. The show concluded with a garba.