The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Primary teachers hold meeting
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 1
A joint meeting of office-bearers of eight unions of government primary teachers was held at Government Primary School(Boys), Jawahar Nagar. Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, Mr Pritpal Singh , Mr Karan Raj Singh Gill, Mr Kashmir Singh Khunda, Mr Mohinder Singh Heer, Mr Gurjit Singh Bajwa, Mr Gurdeep Singh Ahluwalia, Mr Ajit Singh Mand, Mr Baldev Krishan Moudgil, Mr Karam Singh Sohava, Mr Gian Chand Nayar and Mr Ramanjit Singh Sandhu were among those who attended the meeting.

The meeting, in a resolution, expressed satisfaction over being successful in prevailing upon the government not to implement its decision to form an elementary directorate in place of the Primary Education Directorate

The meeting condemned the decision of the government to form a common school directorate instead and decided to start a struggle to re-establish the Primary Education Directorate. A charter of demands will be prepared at the next meeting on January 10 at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall ,Jalandhar, and it will be submitted to the Chief Minister and the Education Minister.

It was decided to observe 2004 as “save primary education year”. The meeting urged the Education Minister to make appointments of teachers in primary schools.

From Schools
Kids usher in New Year with celebrations
Our Correspondent

Students of Gupta Model High School usher in the New Year at a function held on the school campus in Ludhiana on Thursday. — Photo by Inderjit Verma

Ludhiana, January 1
Students of Spring Dale Public Senior Secondary School celebrated the New Year Eve in a different way yesterday. The school management committee, including Ms Avinash Kaur Walia, Director and Founder Principal, Mr Nirmal Singh Walia, Chairman, Mr Sukhdev Singh, president, Mr Mandeep Singh, Director (accounts) and Ms Kamalpreet Kaur, Headmistress, organised a “dharmik sammelan” to impart religious education to students and show them the right path of living according to teachings of our gurus.

Bhai Sewa Singh Tarmala Aboharwale, along with his disciples, performed “akath katha” in the presence of Guru Granth Sahib and provided practical methods and guidelines for meditation of Gurmantra.

Many people, including parents of students, participated in the sammelan The sammelan ended with the distribution of “Guru ki degh”, tea and sweets.

Sweaters distributed: A function was organised on the campus of Government High School, Brahmpur, where woolens were distributed to needy children.

Speaking on the occasion, the Headmistress, Ms Surjit Kaur, the Chairman, Mr Kuldip Singh Chabbra, and members of the PTA thanked all those who had gifted the sweaters. Others present on the occasion included Ms Asha Rani, Ms Daljit Kaur Grewal, Ms Seema Sharma, Ms Amritpal Kaur, Ms Poonam Gupta, Ms Jagjit Kaur, Ms Raksha Kumari, and Pushpa.

New Year celebrations: “New Year-2004” was celebrated at Gupta Model High School, here today.

The function started with a havan and was followed by a dance party.The Principal of the school, Ms Simmi Gupta, motivated students to put in best efforts to make a mark in their live.The students also cut a “mega cake” on the first day of the New Year.

Seminar on career options today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January1
A seminar-cum-workshop on career options in the IT industry will be held tomorrow at the GNIMT, Model Town, Ludhiana. The programme is meant for computer literate graduates in general and BCA,B.Tech and MCAs in particular. Students in final year and belonging to other institutes can also participate.

Participants will be made aware of latest career options in the IT industry, especially the call centre industry. It will be followed by a discussion on the basis for evaluation of students for their suitability in the IT industry. The call center industry is one of the most sought after industry these days. This programme will make the participants aware of its pros and cons.

Touching farewell to Prof Grewal
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 1
Prof A.S. Grewal of the Department of Plant Pathology in Punjab Agriculture University here was accorded a touching farewell by the staff and students today. He retired after putting in 41 years of service in the university.

Expressing his acknowledgements and gratitude to the staff and students, Prof Grewal said, it was the love, respect and cooperation of the colleagues and students which made his stay in the university smooth and successful. Prof Grewal hosted a special party for the non- teaching staff, including class IV employees. He pointed out, without the cooperation of these employees it would not have been possible to run the show so successfully.

Summing up his experiences he said, he was feeling proud for having been associated with the university for over four decades. "I kept on learning always through out my stay in the university", Prof Grewal recalled.

Film on caste discrimination
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 1
“Kalan”, a short film based on caste discrimination , was screened at Mullanpur today. The show was organised by a local outfit, Cooperative Media. The film, based on a story by eminent short story writer Sarvmeet Singh and directed by Rajeev, depicts the sufferings and travails of those who are discriminated against on the basis of caste even today. The story revolves around Shibu and his son, who have strong views about discrimination in society.

Shibu moves from village to village, conveying marriage invitations and suggesting matrimonial alliances to villagers, which is not liked by his son, and there is a clash of values. The son feels that while the villagers take his help, they do not give him respect because he belongs to a lower caste. At the end Shibu comes around to the viewpoint of his son and bares the ills of society.

Karamjit Bhatti portrays the character of Shibu while Baljeet is his son. Hardeep Gill plays the part of Pritam Singh, one of the main characters of the film. The cast includes Anita Devgan, Ashu, Arinder Bhundri, Tejinder Dhir, Phulraj Gill, Jasveer Singh and Jarnail. The camera was handled by Harmeet Basru while the editing was done by Daljit Assi.

Later, members of the club and others present on the occasion discussed the message of the film and pledged not to discriminate against anyone on the basis of caste.