 |
|
|
|
|
||||
Dyslexia can be controlled: Kate
How would you feel if books are just a jumble of alphabets and even the lines of text seem to swim in front of your eyes? Desperate, obviously at not being able to make sense of the jumbled alphabets in front of you. But imagine the plight if you are a
pre-schooler and also have to cope with teacher’s admonition, ridicule of peer group and fear of losing the love of your parents.
This is what a child with dyslexia has to bear day in and day out and this can damage the self-esteem of a child. This was stated by Mumbai-based Kate
Currawala, founder of the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association, who was in Panchkula today to take part in Empower-2005, the annual seminar of ODE, an organisation dedicated to the cause of helping children with learning disorders. Learning disorders are not uncommon as 10 to 12 per cent of children in any normal school suffer from some form of learning disorder. The stigma attached to these is also a misnomer as many famous personalities like Churchill, Einstein, Picasso, Michael Angelo, Bill Gates, Beethoven, Bill Clinton etc suffered from some kind of learning disability. ‘‘It was terrible to see my kids suffer this way and this made me realise the plight of children as well as parents. The lack of proper help from schools and education board too made things worse for the children, this is what led to the setting up the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association
(MDA), an advocacy and awareness group, in 1996’’, she says. Kate, who was working for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and producing programmes on India for it, besides having her own production company, left her job to help her children win the battle against dyslexia. In the past nine years, the Maharashtra education board has allowed special provisions for children with learning disabilities and several schools have centres where special educators help the children which is a great achievement in itself, she says. The MDA organises workshops in schools for teachers to enable them to identify and integrate these children. ‘‘Apart from this, we run remedial centres for children who are enrolled in mainstream schools, provide behavioral and emotional counselling and training of special educators’’, told Ms
Currawala. Talking about dyslexia, Kate says ‘‘identifying the problem is the major challenge as no two cases are alike. So there is a need to identify the weaknesses as well as the strengths of a particular child and work on them accordingly’’. Many children have above average IQ and some of them are good in sports, have good motor
coordination, spatial orientation so the need is to polish their strengths. We also provide career guidance and counsel them to take up vocations which are suited to their aptitude. Dyslexia is not a disease and hence can’t be treated and can only be controlled and managed,” said Kate. Kate has held workshops in Pune, Nasik, Goa to generate awareness about learning disorders. Parents and self-help groups should make this into a movement so that no child suffers just because he is not able to perform as per the rigid norms of the established education system. It is time to pay attention to a child’s plea ‘‘If I can’t learn the way you teach, will you teach me the way I can learn?’’ Patience and perceptiveness of teachers and parents can make children with learning difficulty become successful and contented in life.
|
|
Workshop on slow learning
Panchkula, April 22 They carried out a reading activity to make people appreciate the difficulties faced by learning disabed child while reading. They talked about the MDA being successful in getting government resolutions passed by Maharashtra in helping students with learning problems even till the college level. Ms Bharati Kapoor, Director of ODE, stressed upon the need for parents coming together to demand rights for their children. Masarrat talked about the signs for early identification in the classroom (recognising academic, behavioral and emotional characteristics) and the importance of multi-sensory teaching, learning styles and co-operative learning as mainstream classroom strategy which creates interest and enhances creativity in the child. Later a film by Eagle Hill School “How Difficult Can It Be” was shown to demonstrate how the learning disabled child has to struggle in a classroom situation. Kate stressed upon long-term prognosis — building self-esteem and motivation of the learning disabled through empathy, planning for adulthood and career for the child and not just passing through the school years. Ms Sumita Mehta, special educator and counsellor at the ODE, said these workshops were interactive and aimed to involve participants through games and structured activities to allow them to experience, first hand, the dismay and frustration of the learning disabled children in the classroom and help them through innovative and alternative methodology of teaching.
|
|
|
Schools celebrate World Earth Day
Chandigarh, April 22 The school choir was followed by a dramatised choral and a dance performance to mark the event. The Chief Guest, Mr A.S. Chatwal, Chief
Administrator, Punjab Urban Development Authority, told the students about various sites on environment and conservation on the Internet and was appreciative of the steps taken by the school to make it a polybag-free zone. A sapling plantation ceremony was held at Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 45, on the occasion. Children sang songs and were made aware of the importance of looking after their environment. ‘Earth Day’ was also celebrated at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, Rainbow International School Sector 27 and St Kabir Public School, Sector 26. The Idma Foundation for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the Environment Department, Chandigarh Administration and Envirotech Centre for Research and Development launched a mobile exhibition cum demonstration on ambient air pollution monitoring at Government Model Senior
Secondary School, Sector 33, by organising a display among the teachers of eco-clubs of different schools of Chandigarh. The exhibition will be carried to different schools till April 29 and students would be given first hand information on how ambient air quality was measured. The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr Ishwar Singh, Director Environ-ment, Chandigarh
Administration.
|
|
Cleanliness drive at Sukhna Lake
Chandigarh, April 22 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ishwar Singh, Director, Department of Environment, said April 22 was celebrated as World Earth Day to make the world a better place to live in. He inspired the students to keep their surroundings clean and said, “The Sukhna Lake is a symbol of city’s beauty and we must all strive to keep our city and its symbols clean.” In charge of the Greentire Cycle Promotion programme of Yuvsatta Vikramjit Singh to regretted that although there was a provision to impose a penalty of Rs 500 on those who litter, the same was never done in reality. “No challan is ever issued for violations of environment. The only way to help the surroundings is through self help.” Mr Pramod Sharma of Yuvsatta, referring to plastics, bags and bottles littered all over the ground, said these things ultimately fell into the lake and settled at its bottom preventing seepage of water into the ground. He asked the authorities concerned to launch challaning drives to prevent littering in the city. Students from various schools rid the Sukhna Lake of litter on the occasion of World Earth Day.
|
|
|
Students’ date with nature
Chandigarh, April 22 Mr Ramphal Sharma, Eco-Club in charge at the school, worked this field trip out along with Mr
R.K. Sharma, president of the Chandigarh Chapter of the Environment Society of India, who taught them to identify birds, plants and trees in their vicinity along with examining composting bins, solar devices and vegetable patches. The session ended with ‘Shramdaan’ at Nature Discovery Park in Sector 12 where
fallen leaves were collected and added to the composting pit.
|
|
16 Landran college students excel
Mohali, April 22 According to the information released by the university, Ashish Paul of mechanical engineering has secured 90.3 per cent marks in the first semester while Ruchika Nangia of electronics and communications engineering (first semester) got 87.2 per cent marks. Kiranjot Grewal of third semester and Harshna Sharma of the first semester electronics and communications engineering secured 86.9 per cent marks in their respective classes. Parminder Kaur of the fifth semester, Savdeep Kaur and Gaganpreet Kaur of the third semester of electronics and communications engineering got 86.8, 86.2 and 86.1 per cent marks. Other students who have figured on the top 10 list are Pallavi Garg (third semester) ECE 86 per cent, Harpreet Kaur Kohli (fifth semester) computer science and engineering 86 per cent, Samriti Sharda (fifth semester) CSE 86 per cent, William Preet Singh (third semester) mechanical engineering 85.8 per cent, Parminder Singh Sidhu (fifth semester) mechanical engineering 85.4 per cent, Harleen Kaur (fifth semester) information technology 83.4 per cent, Pushapraj Sharma (third semester) electrical engineering 83 per cent, Mahak Chaudhary (third semester) information technology, 82.8 per cent and Anuj Sood (third semester) information technology 81.6 per cent marks. Mr Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman and Mr Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary of the college, said the results exhibited the hard work by college faculty and students and added that more than 50 students of the college had got marks between 80 per cent and 90 per cent. They announced that all these students would be given a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 each.
|
|
185 engg students given degrees
Mohali, April 22 Mr
J.S. Sidhu, chairman, Dr J.S. Dhaliwal, vice chairman, Mr Gurlabh Singh, member of the SUSCET Trust, dignitaries and academics were also present. Prof S.K. Girdhar, principal
SUSCET, presented college’s report. Thereafter, the chief guest conferred degrees and medals on over 185 students. Seven students were awarded gold medals for excellent academic performance. In his address Dr S.K. Salwan applauded achievements of the college and commended college authorities for getting the institution accredited. He motivated students to strive for excellence in life. “The main features of modern technological developments are the multi disciplinary characteristics. We at PTU are determined to make our colleges institutes of light, liberty and learning,” he said.
|
|
|
Principal honoured
Chandigarh, April 22 The occasion was Mahatama Hans Raj Divas where 5000 students from 700 DAV institutions across the country were present. Before joining at DAV College, Chandigarh, in February 2002, Mr Marriya was principal of DAV College, Bathinda. The Chandigarh college had recently was granted A + grade by NAAC.
|
|
Burail jailbreak: surety amount reduced
Chandigarh, April 22 Earlier, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ms Neerja Kulwant Kalson, had fixed the amount for each sureties at Rs 50,000. Defence counsel had moved an application against the order saying that the amount for the sureties was “too much” and a reasonable amount should be fixed. It may be recalled that while framing charges against the accused, the court had dropped the sedition charges against them.
|
|
Cassette released
Mohali, April 22 The songs have been picturised at prominent religious places like gurdwaras at Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Chamkaur Sahib, Gurdwara Amb Sahib etc. |
India funding cricket stadium in Guyana
Chandigarh, April 22 He apprised the gathering of Indian Government’s grant of $25 million for the construction of the cricket stadium. He called it the “biggest project abroad financed by the Government of India so far”. Mr Gupta said there was great scope for expanding Indo-Guyanese business and cultural partnerships. Guyana had a close linkage with India, with more than 50 per cent of its population being of Indian origin. The list included Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, President. Guyana was the only English-speaking country in Latin America and its close proximity to Brazil made it a potential gateway to that large economy. This made Guyana a worthwhile destination for Indian businesses to explore. In his detailed address, the High Commissioner identified sectors like sugar, pharmaceutical, health care, leather footwear, construction material, yarn and apparel as having a strong potential for Indian exports and investments in Guyana. Starting his address by asking members, “Can anyone tell me where Guyana is?” he stressed the fact that there was need for constant interaction between the business communities of the two countries to cut down the information gap between India and the Caribbean. He also urged the business community to have long-term perspectives by “cultivating and exploring new markets” to reap long-term benefits. With special reference to the health and tourism industry, he said an increasing number of people were looking to get specialised treatment out of the USA as the cost differential between the USA and India was almost 10 times. He urged health care providers to look at setting up good quality, cost-effective health care facilities in Guyana. Another highlight of his address was the fact that Guyana is now a part of the Caribbean regional trading arrangement (CARICOM), which means that an investor in Guyana will have relatively easier access to the 14 million-strong consolidated markets of all Caribbean countries. Earlier, in his opening remarks, Mr Partap Aggarwal, Vice-Chairman, CII, Chandigarh Council, expressed the hope that trade between India and Guyana would see an upward trend in years to come. The session was attended by a section of the local business community. |
||
|
PSEB winning spree continues
Chandigarh, April 22 Another PSEB lad Pankaj Sharma routed Sunil Ahuja of the Haryana Power Sports Group by 5-11, 11-8,11-6, 11-8,11-8. Ajay Sharma of the PSEB struggled hard to overcome the stiff challenge from P. Ramesh of the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board but ultimately lost the tie by 7-11, 11-7, 11-0, 4-11, 10-12, 7-11. In the last tie, Gunshil Sarvade of Reliance Energy lost to Jai Stephen of the Kerala State Electricity Board by 2-11, 8-11, 6-11, 8-11. Mr AL
Wadhwan, Chief Engineer, Systems Operation, BBMB, was the guest of honour. The tournament is being organised by the Bhakra Beas Management Board. |
||
|
MCC club to take on Punjab Sectt club in final
Chandigarh, April 22 In another semifinal match, the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, team booked its birth in the final defeating the Estate Office, Chandigarh, team. The tournament was inaugurated by Mr P.S. Aujla, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. The MCC Cricket Club will face Punjab Secretariat Cricket Club at the Sector 16 cricket stadium next week. Brief scores: Punjab Secretariat Club: (132 in 22 overs). Avtar Singh 27, Jagdeep 24, Bhupinder 15
n.o. Parminder Singh 2 for 22 Education Employees team (124 all out in 22 overs). Sandeep 25, Parminder 16, Gajinder 3 for 13, Jagdeep 2 for 18, Bhupinder 2 for 18. Estate Office: (158 in 25 overs). Raj Kumar 29, Bhasin 20, Deepak 3 for 22, Naresh 2 for 23. MCC Club: (159 in 20 overs). Deepak Gaur 30, Virender 35. |
||
|
Jason Gillespie may visit city
Chandigarh, April 22 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
