Chandigarh, February 23
Is your child having problems with numbers or spellings or can’t concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds? These can be symptoms of learning disabilities. Though not talked about often, these problems are very common in school going children, as almost 10 per cent children suffer from these problems, says Panchkula-based Ms Bharati Kapoor, Director of Optimising Development in Education (ODE), who has been working with these children with special needs for the past 10 years. ODE has set up special education centres in schools in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Punjab.

Apart from professional help in schools, parents have a major role to play in not only spreading awareness about the problem but also in making their children more confident, she says. ‘‘Children with learning disabilities are absolutely normal. It is difficult for parents to accept the fact that their child has a problem with learning. So the first step is to generate awareness in parents to realise the need for help, and then to make the child face the challenge by encouraging him with their love and care. ODE has also formed a parents help group and organises workshops and talks to make parents deal with the problems of their children in a constructive manner.

ADHD( Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and dyslexia are the common phenomenon that have been discussed and researched over the last few years. This is a life-long problem that can be contained with proper training but not cured. Sumita Mehta, a Panchkula-based special educator and counsellor, says children with learning disabilities are not able to cope with the stress of regular school work and time-bound curriculum. Thus resource rooms in schools to give special attention to such children are the need of the hour to help these students and more and more schools should wake up to this problem and set up special cells for children with learning disabilities.

If not dealt with properly at the right time these can severely hamper a child’s performance in school and even overall adjustment in life. Support and intervention strategies, can effectively enhance the classroom performance of children facing these problems.

ODE along with the Akshar Foundation, a parent support group and Pallavan, a Delhi-based educational trust, will organise a free workshop on Dyslexia and other learning disabilities on February 26 at Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula. There will also be an interactive session for the parents in which experts will answer their queries about the teaching methodology and other issues.

Chandigarh, February 23
Patiala House led at the conclusion of the second day of the 25th Annual Athletic meet of Yadavindra Public School, Mohali, here today. They got 309 points while Aitchison with 263 points were at second place. Ranjit House is followed at third place. Tomorrow the events will begin at 9 am and finish at 3.30 pm. In this six day meet, which will end on February 27, every student of the school was allowed to take part in as many events one wish to take part.

Results: Boys: Above-16: Shot put: Angad Sangha (Nalagarh House)1, Gurbaaz (Patiala House) 2, Akshdeep (Ranjeet House) 3. Triple Jump: Jaswant Singh (Patiala House)1, Akshdeep (Ranjeet House) 2, Gurinder (Patiala House) 3.

Under 16: Discus throw: Bharat (Aitchison House) 1, Harsimran (Aitchison house) 2, Jigarjeet (Ranjeet House) 3. Triple jump: Shivam Gumber (Patiala House) 1, Harkirat (Aitchison House) 2, Mohammad Wasim (Tagore House) 3.

Under 14: High jump: Aatish (Aitchison House)1, Arshdeep (Nalagarh House) 2, Aftab (Tagore House)3.

Under 12: Broad jump: Gunraj (Aitchison House)1, Amrinder (Tagore House) 2, Prabhdeep (Patiala House) 3.

Under 10: 800 mtrs: Sikander (Aitchison House) 1, Gurkirat (Aitchison House) 2, Siddarth (Tagore House) 3.

Girls: Above15: 400 mtrs: Manpreet (Aitchison House) 1, Jairoop

(Patiala House)2, Sanam Sekhon (Ranjit House) 3. Discus throw: Divya Ketyarmal (Aitchison House)1, Sanam Sekhon (Ranjit House) 2, Jairoop (Patiala House) 3. Shot put: Geetika (Tagore House) 1, Jairoop (Patiala House) 2, Amanpreet (Ranjit House) 3.

Under 15: Javelin throw: Pranika Mahajan (Ranjit House) 1, Roohani Kaur (Aitchison House) 2, Dilshad Sidhu (Nalagarh House) 3.

1500 mtrs: Anchal Bajwa (Nalagarh House) 1, Vasundra (Patiala House) 2, Simran (Nalagarh House) 3.

Under 15: 400 mtrs: Anchal Bajwa (Nalagarh House) 1, Vasundra (Patiala House) 2, Dilshad (Nalagarh House) 3.

Under 13: 800 mtrs: Steffy (Nalagarh House) 1, Seonju (Patiala House) 2, Seonhwa (Patiala House) 3.

Under 11: High jump: Karman (Ranjit House) 1, Smridhi (Ranjit House) 2, Mannat (Tagore House) 3.

Overall House Position on second day: Patiala- 309 points, Aitchison- 263 points, Ranjit -250 points, Nalagarh- 230 points, Tagore- 161 points.

Chandigarh, February 23
AG, Uttar Pradesh downed AG, Haryana, by three goals in the inaugural tie of the three-day North Zone Indian Audit and Accounts Department Hockey Tournament which began here at the Hockey Stadium, Sector 42.

The UP boys took the lead in 11th minute when Gagan Srivastava made no mistake in converting a penalty stroke.

In the second half, Raghvendra of AG, UP increased the tally to 2-0. Three minutes later, Anup Kumar scored the third goal. Earlier AG, HP, got a walkover against AG, J&K.

Mohali, February 23
The Pakistan cricket team coming to India for a three Test and six One Day International match series is the weakest ever team of Pakistan, though it has lot of young players, claimed Intikhab Alam, a former skipper of Pakistan team, who is at present the Punjab Ranji team coach, here.

Pakistan plays its first Test match on March 8 at Mohali.

Alam, who has played 47 Test matches for Pakistan in which he took 125 wickets and made 1,493 runs, including a century, said India had better chances to win the series. He criticised the political interference in selection of Pakistan teams in both domestic and international cricket.

Alam was in the thick on things as Punjab started its preparations to take on Mumbai in the semi final of the Ranji trophy to be played in Mumbai on March 18.

He seemed satisfied with today’s training session which started this morning. He instructed the boys to improve technical skills as well as their fitness level as Mumbai’s weather is humid. However, he was hopeful of Punjab’s chances to win the trophy.

The biggest challenge before any coach was to solve all kind of problems the team or players face, he said.

Dinesh Mongia joined the session today and Yuvraj Singh was expected to join the camp within one or two days.

Other members of team include many youngsters, including the recently capped Gagandeep Singh and latest pace bowling sensation V.R.V. Singh, besides established players like Ravneet Rickey and Pankaj Dharmani.

Practice matches have been organised against Himachal Pradesh team at the Dhruv Pandove stadium at Patiala.

Chandigarh, February 23
The results of various contests of the Festival of Gardens 2005 are as follows: Section F-1 Large garden (with area over 2 kanals): Rana Gurjit Singh, Sector 4 (I); S. Paramjit Singh, Sector 33 (2).

Section F-2 Medium garden (with area over 1 kanals but less than 2 kanals): S. Marriya, Principal, DAV College, Sector 10 (I); Col Balwant Singh, Sector 9 (2).

Section F-3 Small garden (with area less than 1 kanal): Dr Arunanshu B, Sector 12 (I); Capt S.N. Mohanty, Air Force Station (I); Paras Nath Mourya, Sector 21 (2); Neeta Sachdeva, Air Force Station (2) and A.S. Bakshi, Sector 21 (2).

Section G-1 Large garden (area over 4 kanals): Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39 (I); CHB, Sector 9 (2) and Punjab Markfed, Sector 35 (2).

Section G-2 Small garden (area less than 4 kanals): Commanding Officer, Air Force Station (1); Capt R. Sachdeva, Air Force Station (2).

Section H-1 Best roundabouts: Milkfed roundabout, Junction No 35 (I); CITCO Sector 17 (2) and Uttam Sweets roundabout Sectors 46/47 (2).

Section H-2 Best college campus maintained: Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Sector 32 (I); DAV College, Sector 10 (2); Section H-4 Best private school campus maintained: Strawberry Fields School, Sector 24 (I).

Section H-5 Best open space maintained (in the market): Sarbjit Singh Sandhu, Sector 45 (I).

Section H-6 Best bhavan and any other non-government premises maintained: Baba Makhan Shah Lobana Bhawan, Sector 30 (I); Gurdwara Patshahi Daswi, Sector 8 (2) and Gurdwara Sant Sar Sahib, Sector 38 (2).

Mohali, February 23
The Director, Local Government, Punjab, Dr G. Vajralingum, has given orders for the issuance of a show-cause notice to two employees of the local Municipal Council for not maintaining the office record properly.

The notices were to be to issued to Mr Mewa Singh, a superintendent, and Mr Ved Parkash, a clerk. Both employees are linked with the octroi wing of the civic body. Strict warning has also been recommended in the case of employees who were found absent in the office during a check conducted by the Kharar MLA, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, at the council office here on February 2.

Mr Mewa Singh and Mr Ved Parkash had been held responsible for not maintaining the attendance register of the employees linked with the octroi wing. During the checking it was found that employees of the octroi wing had not marked their attendance since January 17. Despite this, the salary statement of the employees was ready. Nearly 25 leave applications had also not been recorded. As many as 23 employees of the civic body were not found present in the office at the time of the checking.

The state of affairs at the council office was brought to the notice of the Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, Mr B.R. Bajaj, by the MLA. Later, Mr A.K. Kansal, Chief Vigilance Officer of the Department of Local Government, visited the civic body office here and questioned various employees. He took a report, prepared by the executive officer, with him.

After inquiring into the details, Mr Kansal recommend that show-cause notices should be issued to the two employees, apart from giving a strict warning to those who were found absent in the office.

Mr Kansal told Chandigarh Tribune today that the Principal Secretary of the Department, Mr B.R. Bajaj, had given instructions to check the attendance of employees in various civic body offices so that people who came to these offices did not feel harassed.

Chandigarh, February 23
Not a single measuring tape has been snapped in the Assistant Sub-Inspector’s (ASI) ongoing recruitment drive in the Chandigarh police against and average of 70 per day when the city police conducted physical test for constables for which 1.35 lakh candidates had applied against 235 posts.

The tough physical yardsticks are there but not its measurement this time, sources in the police said.

Race for women is tough as they earlier had to cover a distance of 400 metres in two minutes against 600 metres in the period this time. The race for men has also been made tougher as they are now expected to cover a distance of 1600 metres in 5.30 minutes instead of 5.45 minutes earlier.

The physical standards suggest that the Chandigarh police is now looking for more athletic men and women as its officers.

Surprisingly, the response to the advertisement for the post of ASIs has been poor compared to that for constables. There are only 2,700 candidates for 17 posts of ASIs now against 1.35 lakh for 235 candidates in the constabulary.

Around 60 women candidates have cleared the physical test for four posts of ASIs. Around 250 women took the physical test.

Out of around 350 Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates, only 55 could clear the physical test against only two posts.

The physical test for general category candidates will start tomorrow.