PCTE ranks 40 among top 50 B-schools
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 12
The Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) has been ranked 40th among the top 50 B-schools by Outlook. As per the survey, the PCTE has been adjudged the best B-school in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan. The PCTE has improved its position by four ranks as compared to last year’s survey in which it ranked 44. The survey has been conducted by C-Fore, a research agency.

The PCTE is third among the five B-schools in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir. The MDI, Gurgaon, is first and UBS, Panjab University, second.

The survey ranked the schools on their performance in 2004-2005. It was based on parameters like placement performance, intellectual capital, infrastructure and facilities, industry interface and international linkages.

Revenue from MDPs, seminars, workshops, industry interface, and national/ international-level events were also considered.

Congratulating students and faculty members, Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director, PCTE, said: “The PCTE was ranked the best B-school in Punjab, HP and J&K. With the improvement of ranking, the responsibilities of the PCTE has increased manifold.” 

Tougher days ahead for principals, teachers
Court verdict on child abuse
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, September 12
Tougher days are ahead for principals and teachers of schools and daycare centres. In a decision that will have far-reaching consequences, the Juvenile Justice Court has ruled that school managements and teachers will be held responsible if a student becomes a victim of abuse, sexual and otherwise, inside the school premises.

If the school fails to guarantee the safety of students, the principal and teacher can face a maximum jail term up to six months, the court ruled.

The instructions are very clear in wake of the ever-increasing instances of abuse among schoolchildren and those at daycare centres. If a child is sexually abused while at school, the school authorities will be held liable.

Ludhiana Tribune spoke to principals of some schools to gauge their reactions on this issue.

Ms Amrita Jhakhar, principal of Tagore Public School, said: No doubt, the primary duty of a principal is to motivate the staff to do their duties sincerely and inculcate discipline among students so that no untoward incident of sexual harassment takes place in the school. However, education is a triangular affair. Parents, too, have to impart the moral values in their children.

“For instance, parents give mobile phones to their children and do not know with whom their children are interacting. I feel the parents ought to attend parent teacher meetings so that they know of their children’s progress on a regular basis. Moreover, schools should have close-circuit cameras fitted in the classrooms and not-so-frequented areas in the school premises these days,” she added.

Mr Rajesh Ludra, Director, Green Land Public Senior Secondary School, said: It becomes the responsibility of the management, principal and staff to ensure that students are safe within the premises during school hours. It is our duty to be remain alert and, unfortunately, if child abuse occurs, action should be taken against the offender. It is the duty of the principal to caution students against such happenings. But parents must share the responsibility of inculcating a sense of discipline and sound values among their wards,” he pointed out.

Mr RS Patial, Principal of DAV Public School, said: A Principal cannot be omnipresent to keep a watch over students. But he should lead his staff members in such a way that they are able to guide their students in the right direction and channelise the energy in such a way that students do not have any time for any wrong actions. This responsibility and welfare of students is that on the school authorities and in case of any mishap, the guilty should be punished without exception, he added.

Ms Seema Nehra, a parent, said: “I am happy that the school authorities are made responsible as they have been shirking their responsibility in the past when incidents of molestation of students by teachers, as well as principal, occurred. I hope now this ruling would deter teachers, but that does not mean that the parents should shirk their duty of disciplining their children. Education is the collective responsibility of parents and teachers and the taught,” she stressed.

From Schools and Colleges
Zahir for ethical business
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 12
Doraha Institute of Management and Technology (DIMT) organised an extension lecture on corporate governance. The lecture was delivered by Dr M A Zahir, Chairman Synetic Business School, Ludhiana.

Dr R S Gupta, Director, DIMT, welcomed the speaker. He said the company should be transparent to stock holders, investors, employees, vendors and others.

He suggested that the company should not forget about the ethics which it should follow in the competitive world.

Ms Arshdeep Kaur of MBA-III semester presented a vote of thanks.

Quiz conducted: SDP College for Women conducted an inter-class quiz contest to assess the knowledge of the students in languages.

Ms S. Verma, Honorary Director, was the chief guest.

There were four rounds to test the knowledge of the contestants . Each team was asked five questions in each language.

Team D with 25 marks comprising students of B.A. III was declared the winner.

Team B of B.A. I, team C of B.A. II with 21 and 19 marks were declared the second and third. Acting principal S. Bindal encouraged the participants by giving prizes to the winners and runners-up.

Talent search: A talent search programme was conducted in Arya College , Ludhiana, here today. Competitions in various items like folk songs, geet/ghazal , solo dance , poetical recitation and histrionics were held.

The results were as following Solo Dance - Twinkle 1st , Aditya 2nd Ramandeep Kaur and Deepali , joint 3rd; Song — Folk Song: Rajinder Singh 1st, Gurinder Pal Singh Vicky 2nd , Shruti 3rd; Poetical recitation: Rajinder Singh 1st, Davinder Singh 2nd, Ajay Kaumar 3rd; histrionics ; Naseem Akhtar 1st , Nirmal Singh 2nd; Bhand —Harpreet Singh and party 1st.

Dr S.M. Sharma, Principal , inaugurated the function and encouraged the students to take part in extra-curricular activities.

Declamation contest held: The Bharat Vikas Parishad and the Ved Prachar Manch held a declamation contest at Shanti Niketan School here today.

As many as 13 students from Classes VIII to XII participated in the function. Mr Kewal Bansal and Ms Sunita Nauharia were the judges.

Shaveta Soni, Priya and Sarabjit won the first, second and third prizes. 

Computer training in Hindi
Shveta Pathak
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 12
If English has been the hurdle in your way to becoming computer literate, promoters of Hindi have got together and come out with a solution. The Punjab Hindi Sansthan, alongwith the Punjab Hindi Parishad, will introduce computer training in Hindi soon.

“It has been established that people learn the best in their own language. To many English language had been a bottleneck in learning computers, which led us to introduce computer training in Hindi,” said Mr Yashpal Bangia, general secretary of the Parishad.

He said the training would include programming and conducting other operations on the computer. The Parishad plans to introduce the programme in the premises of the Hindi Bhawan in the city.

Besides, training for which the centre would initially have one trainer, facility of translation would also be provided. “It would be the first time in the state that people would be able to get training in Hindi,” Mr Bangia claimed.

The PHS would also launch “Punjab’s first” Hindi website, www.phs.org.in, on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.The website is aimed to promote Hindi literature and people in the state who have been contributing towards promoting the language. These would include writers, poets, journalists, teachers and people from various other fields from across the state.

Besides, through the website, the PHS would also offer correspondence courses like MBA in Hindi. One would also get information related to eduction on the site.

Farooque given sendoff
Our Correspondent

Doraha, September 12
Prof Umer Farooque, Head, Postgraduate Department, was accorded a farewell by the management, teaching staff and students of Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, yesterday.

Professor Farooque was the first to be appointed lecturer in the Commerce Department after its establishment in 1985. Mr Jogeshwar Singh Mangat, senior-vice president, managing committee, said, “Prof Farooque proved his worth by dint of single-minded devotion and labour. It was because of him that the Commerce Department achieved excellent results.” Prof Balwant Singh Pangli, general secretary of the committee, said an institution with teachers like Professor Farooque is bound to achieve the pinnacle of glory. Mr Jaswant Singh Gill, director of the college, said it was due to the efforts of Professor Farooque that the Commerce Department had established itself in such a strong manner.

Among others who lauded the services of Professor Farooque were Mr Jagdev Singh Grewal, Principal of the college, Prof Gursharanjit Singh (Commerce Department), Prof Kuldeep Singh (Political Science Department), Prof M. S. Bhandrai, Head, Hindi Department, Ms Bhagwant Kaur, president of the committee.

Professor Farooque nostalgically recalled the golden years of his life he spent in the college. He said he would always be indebted to the management, the Principal and staff of the college for help and support extended by them both at the official and personal level. He paid tributes to the late founder president of the college, Dr Ishwar Singh.

RIMT Net lab

Mandi Gobindgarh, September 12
Mr Hukam Chand Bansal, chairman of the Shree Om Prakash Bansal Educational and Social Welfare Trust, inaugurated the internet lab in the RIMT Institute of Management and Computer Technology Campus. The lab was a linux certified lab equipped with 25 computers. The lab will provide round-the-o-clock access to Internet on the campus.

Mr Bansal also inaugurated the Red Hat Linux Certified Engineers Programme, the highest level of programme available in India. Prof Vinay Nassa, head of the Computer Science Department, said 11 faculty members of the department were undergoing training in this regard. OC

SPORTS

BVM judokas shine
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 12
Girl judokas of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School dominated proceedings on the first day of the Ludhiana District Inter-Schools Judo Championship being held at multi-purpose indoor hall of the Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. Vaishali Bansal and Nidhi Arora won top honours in below 36 kg and below 44 kg categories u-17 years age group.

First day’s results: (U-17) below 36 kg — Vaishali Bansal of BVM School 1, Amandeep Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Div no III 2, Simran of Government Senior Secondary School, Madhopuri 3 and Barkha of Khalsa School 3; below 40 kg — Mandeep of Khalsa School 1, Rajni of Government Senior Secondary School, Div no III 2, Shobha of Government Senior Secondary School, Madhopuri 3 and Rajni of Government Senior Secondary School, Brahmpuri 3; below 44 kg — Nidhi Arora of BVM School 1, Aarti of Government Senior Secondary School, Div no III 2, Ramandeep of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 3 and Asha of Government Senior Secondary School, Brahmpuri 3.

(U-14)- below 23 kg — Anjali of Government Senior Secondary School, Bharat Nagar Chowk 1, Heena of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 2, Guneet of BVM School 3 and Deep of CFC School, BRS Nagar 3;

Below 27 kg — Smriti of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 1, Gurmeet of Government Senior School, Brahmpuri 2, Nisha of Khalsa School 3 and Anu of Government Senior Secondary School, Brahmpuri 3;

Below 32 kg — Neha of SN Public School 1, Anjali of Government Senior Secondary School, Madhopuri 2, Monica of Dyal Public School 3 and Komal of Everest Public School 3;

U-36 kg — Simran of Everest Public School 1, Rajni of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 2, Sarabjit of Government Senior Secondary School, Brahmpuri 3 and Navpreet of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 3;

Below 40 kg — Komal of Government Senior Secondary School, Madhopuri 1, Ganga of BVM School 2, Manisha of Khalsa School 3 and Ridhima of BCM School, Chandigarh Road 3.

Athletes to be honoured today

Ludhiana, September 12
Punjab athletes, who won positions in the recently held Asian Athletics Championship in Korea, will be honoured at a function at the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, near here on September 13.

Mr R.S. Gill, ADGP and Director of the academy, said Manjit Kaur, Rajwinder Singh, Navdeep Singh, S. Bishnoi, Palwinder Singh Cheema, Gurvinder Singh, Arun Kumar, Navjot Channa will be felicitated.