Education Board gazette disappoints many
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, May 8
Pass, fail or compartment. This was the only information available in the gazette of Class XI (science and commerce streams) results that was released by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) at its local depot at Punjabi Bhavan here today.

Anxious principals and staff from various affiliated, government, private and aided schools of the district had gathered outside the depot before 3 pm, to know the result of their students. To their utter surprise, the gazette did not give any information about the marks obtained by the candidates or the list of meritorious students. The only information that they could gather was the pass percentage of their respective schools in both streams.

Several disappointed principals called up the board office and were told that the details of the result would be available on the Internet by midnight. The principals alleged this was a deliberate attempt on the part of the board in the interest of the cyber cafe owners. They said they would have to log on to the Net till late night to check the results.

Mr H.C. Gupta, Principal of New Senior Secondary School, said, “What is this gazette meant for, if we cannot not know about the individual performance of our students?”

Mr M.L. Kalra, Principal of RS Model Senior Secondary School, said his staff and students had been anxious since morning to know the details. He said they were fuming when they were told that they would have to wait for another nine hours till the result was declared on the Internet.

It may be recalled that last year, Tulsa, a student from Ludhiana, was declared as the topper of the state in Class XII humanities group as per the gazette. A day later, a student from some other district had claimed that she had attained higher percentage and was the state topper instead. The teachers said the board was probably trying to avoid any such controversy.

Bookshop owners were also disappointed. They said as soon as some students would come to know that detailed marks were not available in the gazette, the information would spread to others and nobody would come to them to check the result. They said if the board could not give total marks, it could have printed the subject-wise details of marks as would be done on the Internet.

Dr Kehar Singh, Chairman, Punjab School Education Board, said the board was trying to follow the pattern of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). He confirmed that no merit list had been prepared and the board would give subject-wise marks only through its official website.

Better conditions at evaluation centres sought
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
“As members of Panjab University Senate, it has been our endeavour to contribute to the all-round development of the university. To preserve the prestige and standard of the university, a certain level of performance has to be maintained. For this, a congenial work environment has to be provided. One particular sector in which there is need for improvement is the evaluation centres”.

This was stated by Prof Barinderjit Singh Birdi, member of the Academic Council, Panjab University, and Dr R. P. S. Sethi.

They further said the destiny of 1 lakh students lay in the hands of 4,000 lectures, who evaluated their answersheets. Considering the magnitude and seriousness of the exercise, the need was to take steps for the improvement of these evaluation centres, they said. They demanded that the examiners deserved to be provided essential amenities for the efficient execution of their duties. They suggested that improvements be made in the conditions of evaluation centres.

They demanded that the examiners be provided adequate number of tables and chairs. A generator set should be installed at the evaluation centres so that the lack of electricity did not delay the work. There should provision of clean drinking water, besides clean toilets, they suggested.

Separate retiring rooms (especially for outstation examiners) should be provided. In addition to these, they suggested enhancement in remuneration for paper marking, paper setting and invigilation duties.

Music, dance mark farewell parties
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
‘Rukhsat’, a farewell party, was organised by MBA students of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town, to bid farewell to their seniors. The juniors arranged a colourful extravaganza interspersed with music and dance items and compliments for the outgoing batch.

Various titles were conferred on seniors towards the end of the day. Amandeep Dhillon was crowned ‘Miss Outgoing’ followed by Bawanpreet Kaur as the first runner-up and Pooja Dhingra as the second runner-up. Deepshikha was adjudged ‘Miss Beautiful Smile’ while Mansi was the ‘Most Well-Dressed’ girl of the day. The title of ‘Miss Popular’ went to Sonia Syal. Ms Anjali Garg, Dr Upinder Kaur and Ms Vaishali Deeak were the judges.

The Director of GNIMT, Dr A.S. Bansal, extended his best wishes to the outgoing students and expressed hope that they would continue to excel in whatever fields they ventured into. The party ended on an emotional note as the outgoing students gave compliments to their teachers and other office staff. They expressed gratitude to their ‘gurus’ for imparting valuable guidance and motivating them in the right direction. The bhangra performers uplifted the moods and brought cheer to the party with a foot-tapping performance towards the end.

A farewell party was also held at the Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GGNIMT), Civil Lines, to bid farewell to MBA, BBA, MCA, and BCA final-year students.

The programme featured a spirited performance by Harman, Raman, Amritpal, Harsh and Jaskaran on the number ‘Billo teriyan aankhiyan’. Davneet, Rajwant, Shavinder and Amandeep danced to a medley of Punjabi songs. Students also organised a number of one-minute games to involve the guests.

A personality contest was also held to select Mr GGNIMT and Miss GGNIMT from amongst the postgraduate and undergraduate students. A close contest followed in which contestants were judged on the basis of costumes, walk, confidence and presence of mind. Kuntal and Kavneet were judged ‘Mr and Miss Personality’ among the undergraduate students. The winners were given prizes by the Director, GGNIMT, Mr Kuldip Singh.

On the occasion GGNIMTians who had excelled in sports were also given prizes. Mr Kuldip Singh wished the students luck and advised them to pursue their career goals with sincerity, determination and a positive attitude. Coordinator G.S. Dua congratulated the staff and students for the memorable farewell party.

Courses sanctioned to Lohtia College
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
Certificate/diploma/advanced diploma courses (first-degree level) in functional English, bank management, Advertising Sales Management have been sanctioned by the University Grants Commission to Kamla Lohtia S D College, Ludhiana, from the current session.

These vocational courses have been introduced with a view to imparting skill oriented education to students.

Principal B. D. Budhiraja stated that a student could take up these courses in any of the three years during undergraduation. The college has received a grant of Rs 5 lakh from the UGC for three courses.

Already three vocational courses of information technology and computer applications (sponsored by the UGC) and tax procedure and practice are being run in the college for the past several years.

The college has also be en sanctioned a grant of Rs 10 lakh under the UGC scheme of providing special development grants for new colleges.

Old students’ meeting held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
The inaugural function of the Alumni Association of SDP College for Women was held at the seminar hall here today. Ms Asha Kiran Bhasin, an old student of the college and wife of Mr Balraj Bhasin, president of SDP College managing committee, was the chief guest at the function.

The students presented songs, ghazals, solo dance, group dance and Punjabi folk dance on the occasion.

Ms S. Verma, Principal of the college, said such associations and meetings were platforms to remain in touch with old students of the college. She also told them that the college had a placement cell on the campus.

The students could contact the in charge of this cell and in charge, Alumni Association , to get their achievements recorded in the college register.

21 students clear IIT screening
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
Twentyone students from Ludhiana have cleared IIT (screening) test, the result of which was declared on the Internet last evening. Of the total students eight are from DAV Public School, seven from Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, and six from Guru Nanak Public School.

The students from DAV Public School comprise Reshav Singla, Dilpinder Singh, Sapan Wig, Aditya Gupta, Kirti Reman, Gupreet Kaur, Sandeep Gupta and Avneet Sharma. Students from Sacred Heart School are Dinesh Maheshwari, Nikhil Pillani, Gaurav Bagga, Tejbir Singh, Inder Rishi, Abhit Bharti and Saurav. Student’s from Guru Nanak Public School are Ranbir Singh, Guriqbal Singh, Amanjot Kaur, Gurtej Singh, Ishwarjot Singh and Saurav Singh. The screening test was held on April 18 while the main paper is scheduled for May 23.

Mother’s Day celebrated
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
Tinytots of Shemrock Kindergarten, Model Town Extension, celebrated Mother’s Day today. Ms Pappu Avinash Singh, social worker, was the chief guest. Ms Sukhminder, Headmistress of Shemrock Kindergarten, told the parents about the concept behind the celebration of Mother’s Day.

Several mothers of the children participated in the competitions held on the campus. Ms Shivani Gupta, mother of Vanshita, got the title of Shemrock Beautiful Mother 2004. Ms Vaneesa Nair, mother of Priyanka and Praveen, won the title of Shemrock Star Mother 2004 and Mrs Manjeet Kaur, mother of Jashan, got the title of Shemrock Intelligent Mother 2004.

Ms Pappu Avinash Singh gave a few tips to the mothers about the development of the child. The programme ended with a rhymes recitation by children on the stage. Teachers gave bookmarks to the mothers of all students as a token of respect.

Poetry recitation contest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
An inter-class poetry recitation competition was held in Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School here today. Ms Usha Sharma, Principal of Sky Way High School, was the chief guest. Khushi of Nursery, Riha of KG, Neelam of Class I, Himanshi of Class II, Kusum of Class III, Diksha of Class IV, Vaishali of Class V-A and Divya of Class V-B stood first. Vaibhav, Tarun and Sukhjeet Kaur of Nursery, Taruna and Aanchal of KG, Gurkamal of Class I, Sahil and Anubhav of Class II, Twinkle and Preeti of Class III, Bhumika and Vaishali of Class IV, Khayati and Jasbir of Class V got second prizes.

CULTURE

Folk dancers win laurels
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
A 14-member gidha and bhangra team was sent by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India) for performing in European countries in the second week of April. Ashwani Kumar, group leader, three students of Punjab Agricultural University, a student of GGN Khalsa College and two drummers from Ludhiana were part of the team.

The team’s performance was appreciated in Germany, Turkey, Holland and Poland. It returned to India three days ago.

Performances were arranged by the Indian High Commission. In Poland an international festival was inaugurated with a performance of the Indian team. The team gave two-hour long performance.

The team comprised Mr Ashwani Kumar (group leader), Gulwinder Kaur, Madanjeet Kaur, Manpreet Kaur Bajwa, Harmeet Kaur, Ajay Kumar, Rakesh Jogi, Jugraj Singh, Gurtej Singh Gill, Rishi Joshi, Harpila Singh Chahal, Rajesh Kumar, Jaspreet Sethi and Gurjeet Singh.

After poll din, it’s film bonanza now
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, May 8
After the cricket fever and election hangama, its the turn of Bollywood and Hollywood to overwhelm the people now. About 32 films are going to be released in the coming days.

After witnessing the aggression associated with elections, people eagerly look forward to the entertainment bonanza. Though, like politicians, movies also tend to take them into a make-believe world, it does not disgust them as the blatant lies told by politician generally put them off.

With summer vacations round the corner, school and college students can also enjoy watching movies without any stress. The vacation period will spell big business for the film industry.

The letter ‘M’ seems to have overtaken the fancy of Bollywood producers now. ‘Murder’, ‘Masti’ and ‘Main Hoon Na’, were the recent releases that attracted the audience. ‘M’ is the latest ‘mantra’ for success, it appears. ‘Main Hoon Na’ proves that Shah Rukh is still a crowd puller. ‘K’ letter’s ‘jadoo’ seems to have dimmed in spite of the success of ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ and ‘Koi Mil Gaya’.

‘Charas’ and ‘Sheen’ were released this week. ‘Run’, ‘Lakeer’, ‘Scooby Doo 2’, ‘Monsters Unleashed’, ‘Scary Movie 3’ and ‘Hellboy’ will be released on May 14. Ludhianvis, however, will not be able to view English movies on the big screen, though they can watch these on DVDs and home theatres sitting in their homes. Mel Gibson’s ‘The passion of Christ’ is expected to be a big hit.

Mani Ratnam’s ‘Yuva’ opens on May 21. ‘Uuf Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai’, a small budget Rajshree film, and Hollywood thriller ‘Secret Window’, a Johnny Depp starer, will also be released on the same day.