The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

Teachers satisfied with panel report
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 11
The Bhatthal Committee, constituted by the Punjab Government to suggest ways for the improvement in school education, has published the first part of the report. The state presidents of eight different unions of primary teachers under the banner of primary /Elementary Sikhya Bachdo Front, Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, Mr Pritpal Singh, Mr Ajit Singh Mand, Mr Gurdeep Singh Ahluwalia, Mr Harjinder Pal Singh Pannu, Mr Mohinder Singh Heer, Mr Karan Raj Singh Gill and Mr Gurjit Singh Bajwa — have expressed satisfaction about the report and urged the Punjab government to accept and implement its recommendation in total at the earliest.

The teacher leaders have said that the report is in the interest of be primary education and the people of Punjab. The committee has said that it is against the privatisations of the government primary schools.

The teacher leaders appreciated the recommendation of the committee to start play classes in the government primary schools They also welcomed the recommendation to start supply of fruits, eggs and milk in the Midday meals by the government.

Yoga classes, debate at Bhartiya Vidya Mandir

Ludhiana, June 11
Bhartiya Vidya Mandir has organised a night camp on the school premises during which Baudhik lectures were delivered yoga classes, open debate and quiz contest were also held . During this, camp students also visited “Godham” temple.

The basic idea behind the camp is to inculcate creativity, in the students. The response of the students was overwhelming . On the last day of the camp, an exhibition was organised in which they displayed beautiful articles which they had prepared during the camp. The chief guest of the function was Ms. Prabhjot Kaur, Principal, Government College , Ludhiana.

Summer camp

A 10-day summer camp at Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Dugri Branch, concluded yesterday. A large number of students attended this camp and learnt various activities like art, craft, glass painting, pot painting, fabric painting, tile painting and ember painting. Besides these, students were also trained in dance, computer and music fields.

They showed performance in the closing function. The function started with deep prajvalan followed by Shiv vandana. Tiny tots danced on the songs of “Its holi- holi day, It happens only in India” and Mera naam chun chun chu”. The students also presented dandia’ and ‘ bhangra’. Mr Mitar Jain, president of the Shartiya Vidya Mandir Trust was the chief guest.

Teachers’ training camp

Deputy DEO (Elementary) Major Singh Sandhu visited Govt High School Mundian Kalan, on the fourth day of teacher’ training camp . This camp is being organised under the aegis of Director, SCERT and principal, Govt Inservice Training Centre, Ludhiana, Usha Sidhu.

The second series of seminars started on June 7, and will conclude on June18.

Mrs Anju Soni, group leader resource person, Mrs Sneh Saini, Mr Pardeep Kapoor, Balbir Kaur, Balwinder Kaur, Shivani, Naik Kaur, Harjit Kaur and Mr. Hans Raj shared their thoughts on this event.

Craft activities

Children are enjoying the activities in a summer camp which is being held in Kiddies Paradise School in which more than 60 students from various school are participating The students are learning glass painting , pot painting, flower making, candle making, sticke-making and best out of waste They also participated in dance and singing competitions. A poem recitation and drawing competitions were organised here today under Smart Kid Contest sponsored by ICICI Prudential . Thirty students participated in painting competition whereas 25 children participated in rhyme competition. In the drawing competition Nishank bagged the first prize, Gurjot Singh and Ankit got 2nd prize and Archit got 3rd prize.

Workshop on computer awareness

Ludhiana, June 11
With the growing impact of computers on the day-to-day life of the people, Doraha Institute of Management & Technology, Doraha will organise a workshop on computer awareness for a week starting w.e.f. June 14 said Dr. R.S. Gupta, Director, DIMT, Doraha.

Prof Raman Bagga, incharge of the workshop, informed that the topics covered will be MS- office, hardware, software, internet surfing etc. She further said that focus will be put on emerging trends like IT-enabled services ( ITES), enterprise resource planning ( ERP), system applications and products for data processing ( SAP) during the workshop free internet access will be provided to the participants.

CULTURE

‘Awaaz Punjab Di’ looks for a versatile singer
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 11
“Awaaz Punjab Di” a contest organised by Mh1 television channel with the purpose of finding a male and a female voice that has sur and lai and has versatility. The other aim is to promote the Punjabi music. Auditions in Chandigarh have already taken place and response was overwhelming. This was revealed by Mr Mahinder Bathla, Chairman and Managing Director of the TV channel while addressing a press conference here last evening. Also present at the conference were the two anchors Satinder Satti and Komal, and the jury member Sachin Ahuja Hans Raj Hans and Jaspinder Narula.

The contest, which started in Chandigarh, would proceed to Amritsar, Ludhiana and then Delhi.

Mr Bathla said, “The contest is our sincere effort in searching the voice of Punjab through a unique platform where the contestants will be judged by both jury members and the public. It is our endeavour to provide an equal opportunity to all contestants and help them in building a successful career.”

Asked if the contest is similar to that of Indian Idol on Sony, Ms Savita Jhingan, GM, Marketing Communication, said, “There is a difference as after the qualifying rounds the public was the sole decider in Indian idol which sometimes baffled the jury too. In this contest, the jury will have a say till the end and the public will also have one vote.”

Providing further information, Mr Bathla said, “The talent hunt is for both females and males in the age group of 15-30 years. The contestants will go through the prequalifying rounds in four cities and 48 candidates will be listed for the quarterfinals, which would reduce to 12 in the semifinals and four contestants will walk into the finals that will be held on October 29, 2005 in Jalandhar. Two winners one male and one female will be selected and would get contracts worth Rs 1 crore by a leading Punjab’s music companies besides a host of other prizes. The programme will be telecasted on Mh1.”

Hans Raj Hans, Punjabi folk singer and a jury member said he was happy that the channel was providing an opportunity to promising singers to come to the forefront. He said, “Inspite of my offer of teaching music free for my entire life time, the Punjab government has not taken initiative to start a sangeet ashram. Music needs motivated gurus and learners.

If we cannot start a school, then let us not blame on the poor quality of Punjabi music being churned out by one day sonders. We are not taking care of our rich hetitage and it is time for the government to wake up to the fact that they have a responsibility in preserving our rich heritage.”

While Jaspinder Narula said she was thrilled that the popularity of the Punjabi music had risen tremendously as every Hindi movie has a Punjabi number. Asked why she had started singing duets with new singers, she said, “What is wrong with it if I give chance to new singers to come up. I still cannot get over the hurt when an established singer dilly dallied in singing a duet with me. So I think it is my way of encouraging new talent and a sort of my blessingsfor them. Of course, I do make money out of it, but we are there to earn money too.”

Sachin Ahuja, son of Charanjit Ahuja, the famous music director has given 12 super hit albums. He said sad music with pathos was more appealing. Talking about his debut, he said he started giving music when he was just 17. He said, “I listened to the Western and Punjabi music during my childhood and soon the Punjabi music overtook me. I am the first one to start the fusion of folk and Western music in Punjabi songs and as a music director I have given music for a Punjabi film Yaarian.”