The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

School teachers, students given lesson in healthcare
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
For students and teachers of so many government schools in Chandigarh and neighbouring cities, including Ropar, Patiala and Ambala, it’s time to learn more than just chemistry formulas and geometrical equations. Experts in the field of healthcare are giving them a lesson or two in first-aid techniques and hygiene as well.

As part of the healthcare project launched under its “corporate social responsibility scheme” by a city-based pharmaceutical giant with operations across 45 countries, as many as 104 government schools in Chandigarh have already been handed over free first-aid kits. Each kit is otherwise costing approximately Rs 1,000.

Besides this, the necessity of maintaining good oral health has been impressed upon nearly 20,000 students studying between class VIII and XII in local government schools with the help of brochures and one-to-one interaction with the health-care experts, including doctors.

Giving details of the project, Director of Swift Health Programme for Schools Anshu Kataria says they will soon be expanding the project’s scope to cover places like Panchkula, Zirakpur, Mohali and Kharar, besides the neighbouring cities.

The possibility of opening a free dispensary near Chandigarh for school students and others belonging to “not so affluent strata of society” is also being explored. For the purpose, the organisation is looking for suitable premises, Mr Kataria claims.

“As of now, we are working out the modalities for conducting a training workshop for the students and the teachers of all the government schools in the city,” asserts Mr Kataria.

“The workshop is scheduled to be held sometimes in the second week of this month. In it, the instructors and the students will be trained to use first-aid kits. Topics like preventing injuries and infections, necessity of having balanced diet, maintaining personal hygiene, besides eye, ear and dental care will also be taken up”.

Elaborating, Mr Kataria says that a team of doctors and other experts will carry out live demonstrations in the schools for instructing the teachers and the taught about the technique of assisting the victim in case of mishaps, sports or other injuries. Private schools will also be invited to join in.

Going into the reasons behind launching the project, Mr Kataria says the intention is make sure that education is confined not just to the books.

“The aim is to develop overall health and personality of the students”.

Government schools, he adds, were chosen for the project as some of them cannot afford to provide adequate healthcare facilities compared to the private schools. Moreover, we want the children to spread around the message of good health and motivate people living in the vicinity to take up the task”.

Ind-Swift Chairman Dr G. Munjal adds: “Along with healthcare, we are also in the favour of creating awareness about drugs, alcohol and tobacco abuse. Besides this, we believe that sex education should also be an integral part of education”.

	YPS teachers’ date with puppetry Tribune News Service Mohali, April 3 Moving forward from boring classroom teaching to mastering a medium of instruction which is novel and innovative is something that the teachers of Yadavindra Public School, Mohali, are being trained in these days. As many as 49 kindergarten and junior teachers of the school have been made part of the puppetry training being provided by the school to encourage the teachers to improvise and use diverse teaching aids and methods in the classrooms. Being conducted by PUTUL NACHER ASHOR, a puppetry theatre group headed by Sibashish, the school authorities feel that the training will further enhance the multi-sensory activity based teaching methodology used extensively in the junior school classroom teaching at the school. Aimed at bringing a paradigm shift in teachers particularly those teaching English, maths and science, the first day of the three- day workshop which began today, an introduction to puppetry as a useful aid to education was presented. This was followed by a discussion on the effectiveness of puppetry in education. Factors like objectives to be achieved, resources required and financial aspects were also discussed. Later, the participants were guided to create their own puppets out of easily available waste material. Over the next two days, the manipulation of puppets according to scripts developed by the teachers based on relevant classroom topics followed by impromptu presentations will be taught to the teachers.
	Schools buzz with activity of new session Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 3 Life returned to the city schools which re-opened today for the new session. The day was full of excitement for the young new entrants who took their first steps to school today. A number of parents were seen accompanying the toddlers to school. At Shishu Niketan Public School, Sector 43, the nursery block was abuzz with activity with music, rhymes and dance. The students were greeted by students dressed as Spiderman, Mc Donald and aliens. To avoid the first day jitters, a special dance party was a also organised. The children were also welcomed by the school Headmistress with some advice on discipline, school activities and the school’s work culture. At Aanchal International School, Sector 41, an open day was organised both for the parents and the children. A puppet show was also organised to make it a funfilled day for the young ones. In addition to this, the school Principal, Mrs Manju Sood, informed that all classes had been decorated to welcome the children and ice cream and cake were distributed among them. Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Anil Rathi, a parent, informed that he had specially taken a day off from work to accompany his child on his first day to school. ‘‘It’s a special day both for the parents and the child and generally to avoid the initial wailing session we were with our son’’, said Mr Rathi. Another parent, Seema Sharma said she had tough time taking her daughter to school as she was not ready to be away from her and home. However, most of the schools had a light day with orientation workshops, and activity sessions being organised for the children.
	School session begins Chandigarh, April 3 Maharishi Dayanand Public School, Daria, near Chandigarh, started new academic session with a yajna today. Students, teachers and parents participated in this programme. Mr Ashok Arya, founder, Arya Yuva Shakti, was present, among others, at the function. The founder of the Divya Yog Mishan, Mr Vijay Pal Shastri, chanted bhajanas and blessed students. The chief guest, Mr Anil Bhalla, president, Arya Samaj, Sector 19, delivered a short lecture on the life of Swami Dayanand. The secretary of the Arya Samaj, Mr Anil Tiyagi, donated book ‘Satyath Parkash’ written by Maharishi Dayanand to the school. TNS
	Olympics — gateway for Indian students to seek jobs in Canada Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 3 The next Olympics 2010 in Canada has generated a demand for lakhs of engineers in the field of construction, electronics and communications and automobile industry. The University of Windsor, Canada, is now looking at Indian students to fulfil the generated demand. Addressing a press conference today, Mr Mel Broitman, Director, International Outreach, University of Windsor, Canada, revealed that the demand for engineers in the fields of civil, electrical, mechanical, electronics and communications and automobile industry has risen manifold due to the forthcoming Olympics. Mr Bhumbla, CEO of B.N Overseas Educational Service, having three offices in Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, assured students not to be afraid about any aspect of overseas education and feel at home in Canada. He added that they had set up a Punjab help desk for the University of Windsor at all three locations. He added that for Punjabi students a degree at the University of Windsor was a big step towards a career in Canada. Upon the completion of a Windsor degree, students could work for two years in Canada and then they would become eligible to convert their education and work experience into Canadian residency status.

Interactive seminar for IIT aspirants
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
An interactive seminar for IIT aspirants was organised here. The seminar provided an opportunity to students and their parents to understand the complexity of the IIT entrance exam and the strategies to maximise the success rate.

Experts from Delhi shared their knowledge and experience with those present on the occasion.

Mr Avnish Kumar and Mr Rajesh Sinha, experts in teaching ways of meditation and keeping motivation levels high and also in subjects of mathematics and physics, explained to the students the intricacies involved in handling the IIT papers.

The students were also given various tips and time management skills for appearing in the exam in the coming days.

The seminar was followed by a test for the students present to determine their aptitude level, besides counselling sessions with the parents.

The seminar was organised by PIE Education.

Nazuk to represent India in Physics Olympiad
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
Nazuk Kumar, a student of Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, here, has been selected to represent India at the International Physics Olympiad which will be held at Almaty, Kazakhastan.

An eight-day Olympiad starting from April 22 to 30 is aimed at finding young budding talents and to promote physics at the international level.

Delegations from over 18 countries will be participating in the event. The Indian delegation consists of eight students from various parts of India in the age group 10-16 years.

The participating students were selected by the National Bal Bhavan on the basis of their performance in the National Bal Shree Award for the creative scientific innovation for the year 2005.

Filming concerns his passion
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
There were times when making a film was a big dream. It is a big dream still, but it is well within the reach — what with school and college kids wielding cameras. While some choose to film their parties and picnics, there is a young man in the city who has decided to film concerns in two short films spending next to nothing. He is Kabir Singh, younger son of celebrated theatre director Neelam Mansingh.

Sunday saw a screening of these films made on videocassettes in Neelam's studio theatre in the backyard of her home in Sector 4. Introducing the films, Kabir, who dabbles in photography, writing, painting and much else, said shyly: "If the films don't work, there is cake afterwards." Well, the films worked as did the cake this young filmmaker's mother served.

Particularly moving was a little piece of fiction called "Closeness", which had Payal Singh and Ashu Sharma enacting an adaptation of a Russian short story called "Heirloom". Shot in twilight, the film probes the man-woman relationship through the encounter of a woman with a robber. He wishes to rob her of treasures. She refuses to part with heirlooms, but gives him the shawl that was her own. Kabir says, "The woman's cry is not for the shawl but actually for the man who robbed her."

The other film was called "Partition" and Kabir saw it through the eyes of a man whose twin brother migrates to Pakistan. The story is linked to the more recent killings of Muslims and is poignant even if somewhat raw. The emotions are there in rawness.

What was interesting to note were the images that Kabir was able to create and the little fine touches he added to these short films made under the banner of "Forbidden to Forbid. "These little exercises promise that the big thing is to come and here is a filmmaker in the making.

Rodrigues lays stone of OPD block in General Hospital
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
With a view to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in the city, the UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), today laid the foundation stone of a multi-storeyed new OPD block in General Hospital, Sector 16, here.

The new block will be constructed with a cost of Rs 11 crore. It will have various OPDs, including dental, physiotherapy, orthopaedics, surgery, minor operation theatre, medicine, paediatric, eye, skin, psychiatry and day-care centre (25 bedded). General Rodrigues, while going round the renovated building of the existing hospital, visited emergency wards and asked about the well-being of patients and the services being provided by the hospital authorities. He also interacted with doctors.

Referring to a health survey of children initiated by the Administration in various schools, the Administrator impressed upon the health authorities to pay special attention towards the health of children by providing them a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. The Administrator after seeing the model plan of the General Hospital asked the Chief Architect and the Director Health Services to enhance the capacity of the training facilities in nursing and other related courses.

General Rodrigues also asked the authorities to introduce advanced super-specialty facilities, like spinal surgery in the proposed expansion plan, and said comprehensive primary and secondary services in the General Hospital should be created to reduce dependence on the PGI. Mr Krishan Mohan, Home Secretary, Mr R.K. Rao, Deputy Commissioner, Dr Inderjit Kaur Walia, Director Health Services, Ms Renu Sehgal, Chief Architect, Dr Usha Bishnoi, Joint Director-cum-Medical Superintendent, Dr G. Dewan, Deputy Medical Superintendent, Mr V.K. Bhardwaj, Chief Engineer, and other senior officers were present on the occasion.

Sidelights

Interacting with a patient suffering from suspected meningitis, the Governor asked doctors to investigate the cause of such disease in the area the patient was coming from. This will enable controlling the problem before it assumes the magnitude of an epidemic.

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The Governor asked the health authorities to make the hospital sterile to check spread of infections. He suggested separate registration counters for various specialities to shorten queues for registration.

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Commenting on the blueprint of the new building, General Rodrigues suggested that the Health Department should work out ways of putting in place a more streamlined system for patient dealing.

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Councillor Chandermukhi Sharma requested the Governor to consider the changing name of the hospital. From being a General Hospital to giving it an identity of a multi-speciality hospital. His proposal found support from the medical fraternity as well.

City emerging as nursery for football players
G.S. Paul
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 3
After producing a number of renowned cricketers, now City Beautiful has been emerging as a big nursery for football players.

Two academies — Football Academy, Sector 42, and St Stephen’s Academy, Sector 45 — along with many training centres in schools are preparing youngsters to achieve big targets.

The dividends have started coming as six players participated in the Annual Football Festival (u-14) conducted by the Asian Football Confederation in Iran last month.

Officials and players of the city are elated with the improvement and popularity of the game. After West Bengal and Goa, Chandigarh has been becoming a hub of the sport. But simultaneously many of them expressed concern over the future of the local players.

At junior level, the talent has been looking after by academies in a professional manner. But as soon as they pass out the school or academy, many of them lost their way as the city has no proper infrastructure to give them professional training.

Sanjay Sharma, manager, Chandigarh Football Club, said: “Our performance at the junior level is well and it starts deteriorating as soon as we graduate to the senior level. The reason is that no academy takes care of players after they pass out their matriculation examination. That gap needs to be filled through professional clubs.”

Echoing the same views, Surinder Singh, coach, St Stephen’s Academy, is somehow optimistic about the future of the game, provided some big companies come forward to provide financial support at the junior level.

“The financial support will change the mindset of the parents, who seem to be more inclined to cricket at the moment.”

Commenting on the India’s standing before the teams of Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kirghizstan, Jitender Sharma, coach, Chandigarh Football Academy, Sector 42, is of the view that they build up the game on the European pattern and adopt scientific approach towards the training programme.

“Society plays a major role in promoting the sport. Our educationists can convince the students not to restrict to the classrooms only. The parents should ask their children to take the sport not for medals but for the sake of healthy living. Once we are able to create a healthier society, we would be able to chennalise our energy in right direction,” he opined.