The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

PCTE students excel
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 12
Students of the PCTE of all three batches of MBA, BBA and BCA who passed out in 2003 have won gold medals by obtaining first positions in the university. The students were awarded the medals at the convocation of the PTU held at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali, on Wednesday.

In all, 10 students of the PCTE were awarded merit certificates and medals at the convocation. Five students of the MBA course (batch 2001-2003), two students of the BBA course (batch 2000-2003) and three students of the BCA course (batch 2000-2003) were awarded degrees and certificates by Dr R. Chidambaram, Adviser to the Government of India, and Justice O.P. Verma (retd), Governor of Punjab and Chancellor of the PTU.

Monica Chawla (MBA), Sukriti Khanna (BBA) and Aman Sehti (BCA) were honoured with gold medals for obtaining first positions in the university. Shivani Bector (MBA), Cheenu Garg (MBA) and Vaneet Bansal (BBA) were awarded with silver and bronze medals for obtaining second and third positions, respectively. Shaveta Kapoor (MBA), Vishesh Gupta (MBA), Munish Dhawan (BCA) and Rajiv Lagai (BCA) were awarded with merit certificates for obtaining the fifth, the ninth, the fourth and the sixth positions in the university, respectively.

Training programme: A week-long AICTE-ISTE-sponsored short-term training programme, which began at the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus here on Monday concluded on Friday. The programme focussed on the theme, “Role of Human Resource Management in the New Millennium.”

Dr S.K. Salwan, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Technical University, was the chief guest at the valedictory function held on Friday. He highlighted the significance of human resources as the biggest asset of a nation and stressed the need to fix priorities to combat competition.

On the concluding day, two more sessions were held related to the theme of the programme. Mr D S Reen, Adviser, HRD Associates, Panchkula, spoke on “Human resource management should update its basics.” Another session on “Competitiveness through six sigma as a tool in IIRD” was conducted by Dr D.P. Warne from the Malout Institute of Management and Technology.

Dr A.S. Bansal, Director, GNIMT, said the programme gave an opportunity to human resource professionals and academicians to pool their ideas and have meaningful brainstorming on the latest trends in the field. The institute is organising another AICTE-ISTE-sponsored programme on “Emerging Trends in Financial Services” from June 14.

World-class business school in city soon
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 12
Ludhiana will soon be having a world-class school of business. Conceptualised by Mr S.P. Oswal, Chairman of the Vardhaman Group of Industries, the Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management will start functioning from this academic session with a batch of 70 students in their first year degree course.

Spelling out the vision behind the institution, Mr Oswal said, he had a desire to set up an institution that would be in a class by itself. In 1994 he set up the Sri Aurobindo Socio, Economic and Management Research Institute, which was sponsored by the Vardhman group with the objective of promoting education, research and human resource development in the region.

He pointed out that taking into the consideration the importance of commerce and management education in the present business scenario particularly in an industrialised city like Ludhiana, the institute decided to set up the college. It under took thorough research in various business schools and conducted a survey among students to form a broader outline for the functioning of the college.

Mr Oswal said the college had been set up to provide world-class education in commerce and management. The college would lay emphasis on the total development of personality through the concept of integral education as propounded by Sri Aurobindo.

Ludhiana students prefer big campus
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 10
A study conducted by the faculty of the Lovely Institute of Management, Phagwara, found out that apart from academic strength, students prefer to join a professional college that has a big campus with a large techno-academic infrastructure.

The report says the students want to be part of a big campus for various reasons, the most prominent of which is that such a campus has more students and hence more interaction.

A majority of the students in small educational complexes are local-based and such institutes attract a few students from other states.They feel that small colleges do not attract good faculty and cannot retain it. Big companies do not visit small campus for job placements and at the most, invite applications only.

Professionals from big corporate houses show reluctance to visit small institutes. The study says that a big campus offers more facilities. Supervision of students and lack of facilities, are also some of the problems faced in relation to a small campus.

Most of the colleges of Ludhiana offering professional courses are not multi-disciplinary and the campus is in a few acres only, unlike universities and campuses where apart from such courses, institutes offer engineering , law, education and Pharmacy.

The students were of the opinion that small institutions are mostly syllabus-oriented and have less financial strength.

Most of the students opting for computer application and information technology change their streams after graduation as they do not feel satisfied with the practical training provided to them. The students are losing interest in MCA as is evident from the fact that not more than 100 students have opted for it.

	Fun, frolic mark end of summer camp Our Correspondent Ludhiana, June 12 Dance, games and an art competition were the highlights of the conclusion day of a 15-day summer camp organised by Pumpkins Kindergarten here yesterday. The art and craft items prepared by the children were exhibited for the parents of the participants to see in the school campus. The participating children also presented a colourful variety programme. According to Ms Kler, Principal of the school, the children were divided into two groups, with those in the age group of 3 to 6 years in the younger group and the older group comprising children between 7 and 11 years. The activities during the camp were based on different themes like art and craft, woodworking, for different groups. In order to create interest of the children and facilitate creative learning, the programme was mixed with dance, music, creative art and craft, games, personality development, among other activities. She further informed that the school lawns were converted into an open air theatre on one of the weekends and an animation film ‘beauty and the beast’ was shown to the children. Other activities, carried out during the summer camp were a picnic on a farm house, a splash in the swimming pool, display and working of a potters wheel to demonstrate the art of pottery.
	Children enjoy Hawaiian party Our Correspondent Ludhiana, June 12 A Hawaiian camp for children was arranged at Hollyhock Nursery School, Rani Jhansi Road, Civil Lines, Ludhiana. The kids had a nice time today as they enjoyed the Hawaiian party specially arranged for them. The children had put flowers on their dresses. They looked like little fairies. Today was the grand finale of the summer camp. The 20-day camp which began on May 24 ended here today with a big Hawaiian splash party for all participants. Ms Priti says that the main motive of this international level kids’ camp is to teach moral values, bring out talent, teach discipline, and sporting spirit to the children while making them enjoy their holidays!! She says that the small children are being encouraged in arts and crafts, too. With their extreme hard work and talent , they have been able to take at least 20 creations of their own to their homes with them.
	Booksellers flay PU for changing syllabus Our Correspondent Ludhiana, June 12 A meeting of the Punjab Booksellers Association, was held here on Thursday. The issue of change in syllabi the books of English, Hindi, and Punjabi of university classes was discussed. The association criticised Panjab University authorities for changing the entire syllabi and books without informing book sellers. The booksellers had huge stocks of the books. They would incur great losses if the university did not change its decision to change the syllabi. They decided to approach the Chief Minister in this regard. If their plea fell on deaf ears, members would sit in a dharna before Panjab University.
	Nikhil tops in CET in city Our Correspondent Ludhiana, June 12 Nikhil Pillani of Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School , Sarabha Nagar, with 168 marks bagged 5th position in CET Examination and topped in Ludhiana.. Rishaab Singla of DAV school was placed at 19th rank who scored 165 marks and Sandeep Gupta of the same school stood at 30th rank. The result of the CET, conducted by Punjab Technical University, were declared late last night in Jalandhar. Manish Gupta of St Thomas School was placed at 29th position, Dilprinder Singh of DAV stood at 98th rank, Prikshit Gupta of KVM school and Gagan Preet of GGN Public School got 117th rank, Nitin Khattar ogf GGN got 136th rank, and Prikshit Gupta, got 171th rank.

Rs 20 lakh given as relief at Lok Adalat
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 12
A special Lok Adalat today awarded compensation of Rs 20.85 lakh to litigants who had lost their kin in road accidents and were struggling for years to get adequate compensation. The Lok Adalat was held by the chairman of the Legal Services Authority, Mr Baldev Singh (District and Sessions Judge), and Ms Pappu Abinash Singh, member of the Legal Services Authority to settle motor accident claim cases. Eighteen of the 36 were disposed of.

The Lok Adalat was held at the request of New India Assurance. It was for the first time in the city that any insurance company had taken the initiative for arranging a Lok Adalat to settle their cases.

Ms Veena Kakkar and Dr Varinder Kakkar, who had lost their son Pankaj (27), in a accident in New Delhi in 2002, were given a compensation of Rs 6.40 lakh. Seven persons who had come from Kurukshetra, were given relief. They had sustained injuries in an accident.