The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

15-min extra time in Class VIII exams
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26
The students of class VIII have heaved a sigh of relief with the decision to grant them 15-minute extra time in examinations. This decision, along with others, was announced at a meeting of Principals of various local government schools. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Mr Ashwani Kumar, DPI ( Schools), Chandigarh, at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, here, today.

Another decision taken today was that the Hindi paper of middle class, based on CBSE pattern, will also have a comprehension passage of five marks.

Another step purposed in the meeting was that all schools would be connected through “Connect” telephone service and there will be no charges for calls made from one school to another. The communication system will be operational from the DEO, Chandigarh Office.

The DPI has further stressed on the timely payment of salary to the staff by the last day of every month. The Drawing and Dispersing Officer i.e. the principals or heads of the schools have been authorised to do the needful in this regard. In case of failure, the explanation would be asked from the DDOs concerned .

Regarding the Remedial Primary Classes upto class V where no student is failed, steps would be taken to fulfil the primary aim that 70 per cent of the students should secure above 60 per cent marks.

To further enhance the quality of education on primary level, a seven-cluster scheme has been proposed to be adopted. The seven Government Model Senior Secondary Schools in Sectors 16, 40, 35, 19, 33 and 27 and Mani Majra would further cater to nine schools each to make the education pattern more efficient.

Chanchal Singh, Assistant Director, Vocational Education Programme, Chandigarh; Ms Kamla Bains, DEO, Chandigarh Administration and Adviser to Vocational Education Programme, Ms Prit Pal Kaur were among those who attended the meeting.

National Space Olympiad begins
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26
The first ever National Space Olympiad, being organised here by the Aeronautical Society of India, began with 14 school teams from all over the country.

In his inaugural
address, Chairman of AeSI’s Chandigarh chapter, Air Cmde R.K. Srivastava, gave an overview of the society’s activities and also stressed upon the growing importance of the aero-space sector.

The society’s vice-chairman, Wg Cdr D.P. Sabharwal (retd) gave a presentation on the theme of the Olympiad and traced the history of flight, delved upon important milestones and also briefed the audience on achievements by Indian nationals in the field of science through the ages.

The theme of the event is putting a satellite into moon’s orbit. Students will be required to prepare a project report and later give an audio-visual presentation on their techno-economic perception of such a venture.

Besides, the preliminary phase of intelligence quiz, space quiz, general awareness quiz and a sketching competition were held today.

The purpose of these events is to assess the overall aptitude and talent of the participating students.

Performance in these events will count towards the overall assessment of the project reports.

Date for submitting forms extended
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26
The Centre for IAS and Other Competitive Examinations, Panjab University, has extended the last date for submission of forms for PCS (Judicial) and UGC (NET) programmes to October 30.

According to a press release note issued by the Honorary Director of the centre, the programmes at the centre will start from November 14 instead of November 6.

Schoolchildren sensitised about traffic rules

Chandigarh, October 26
In an attempt to give practical training to schoolchildren about traffic rules and regulations, the Chandigarh Traffic Police, today, organised a special drive in which students were taken to the various traffic light points in the city.

Accompanied by traffic police personnel, students of Government High School, Dadu Majra, were seen controlling traffic and asking motorists to follow traffic rules at a traffic light point. The awareness session started at 11 am and continued till 12.30 pm. The students said they had learnt a lot from the practical session and also had a first hand account of the functioning of the traffic police and the problems they faced. — TNS

US software company interviews Landran college students
Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 26
The Second Foundation, a US-based global software services company, held campus interviews at Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran,
near here, today. The company is headquartered at Menlo Park,
California, and has a wide national and international presence, having its branch offices in New Jersey, Chicago, Arizona, Liverpool (UK), Prague (Czech Republic) and many cities in India, including Chandigarh.

Mr Anupam Jain, Manager (Resourcing), Ms Dishu, Manager (HR), Mr Jatinder Pal Singh Pasricha, Associate Project Manager and Mr Rajneesh Verma, Project Manager, conducted the interviews which comprised aptitude and technical tests, a group discussion and an interview.

Students of MCA and B Tech courses in information technology and computer science engineering having more than 60 per cent marks appeared for the tests.

Mr Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chairman, and Mr Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal, president, said with various multi-national companies offering jobs to the students of this college, the morale and self-confidence of others also got boosted.

Dayalpura boys, girls adjudged best
Tribune News Service

Dera Bassi, October 26
The three-day sports meet of the Dera Bassi zone concluded at Government High School here yesterday.

Dayalpura stood first in the boys’ and girls’ categories in the under-19 age group while Mubarikpur was placed first in the boys’ section of the under-17 category. Bhankharpur was placed first in the girls’ section.

COURTS

Bhullar case: prosecution asked to present witness
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26
In the case of attempt to murder against Devinder Singh Bhullar, who had allegedly conspired to kill a former SSP, Chandigarh, Sumedh Singh Saini, in a bomb blast targeting his police convoy in Sector 17 in 1991, the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.S. Baswana, today gave the last opportunity to the prosecution to present any witness in the case till October 30.

During the last hearing, the prosecution had failed to produce a prosecution witness, Mrs Paramjeet Kaur.

The witness has gone abroad and had also not appeared before the court on previous hearings. It was at the house of Mrs Paramjeet Kaur where the accused, Bhullar, along with others had allegedly hatched the conspiracy to the kill the SSP.

Earlier, another prosecution witness, Mr P.R. Mehta, a General Manager of PNB Bank, had retracted from his previous statement of having seen Bhullar. Mr Mehta had stated that Bhullar had purchased an Ambassador car in auction. The car was used in triggering the blast.

Shiv Sainiks get judicial custody till Oct 30
Our Correspondent

Mohali, October 26
All 138 Shiv Sainiks who had gathered here to disrupt the cricket match being played between Pakistan and New Zealand at the PCA Stadium have today been sent to judicial custody till October 30. They were arrested by the police yesterday.

The arrested persons were produced before the SDM, Mr Sandeep Hans, who remanded them in judicial custody. As many as 138 Shiv Sainiks had been booked under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC.