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Poll duty casts shadow on examination process
Chandigarh, December 17 Most of the private schools have already declared holidays. The government schools, though not announced yet, will probably remain closed from December 24 to 31. Normally, the report cards for December examinations are handed over to the students before the closure of the schools. The purpose is to sort out weak students and lay more emphasis on them. This means, the results need to be out before December 22. But the teachers, who have been put on election duty, are facing tough time achieving the target. Mr J.S. Basota, Principal, GMSSS-47, said, “It is really an extra burden on the teachers.” However, with no option left, he has chalked out an internal arrangement in the interest of the students. “I do understand the problems the teachers on election duty face, but we are more committed towards the students. We have planned to distribute the report cards before the winter break. This will help us identify the weak students and arrange special classes for them,” he said. Mr Surinder Singh, Principal, GMSSS-44, who himself is on poll duty, said out of 50 teachers in his school, 28 had been asked to do poll duty. “It is indeed a hindrance in the conducting of examinations. Earlier, only 20 teachers were asked to do election duty, but today I was told that eight more teachers had been asked to learn the poll process. Earlier, we had fixed December 22 as the date for handing over the results to the students, but now I would have to revise the schedule. I will talk to the teachers and we will find some way out,” he added. Similar replies were received from most of the principals. However, some principals simply refused to comment on the issue and said only the department could clarify on the issue. On the other hand, the teachers, especially women teachers, alleged they were facing tough times. They said they would be forced to spend the entire day on poll duty on December 20 thus causing inconvenience to them. Moreover, the senior functionaries of their schools wanted them to prepare the result cards before the winter break. “In the morning, we perform duty in the examination hall and from 2.30 to 4.30 pm we have to spend time at the centres where we are taught the ways to conduct elections. On reaching home, we have the task of checking answer sheets. We have to work like a machine,” they rued. They said they were not refusing to perform the poll duty but were asking the Election Commission to chalk out modalities. Services of the teachers should probably be utilised by the commission during vacations and other holidays. “The Administration should also declare December 19 (one day before elections) as a holiday as the teachers have to stay out for the whole day on that day. The authorities may also consider taking the services of other government employees, unemployed youths and college students for the task,” they opined.
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Such ‘national’ seminars serve little purpose
Chandigarh December 17 For colleges, faculty members from PU are just good enough to inaugurate these seminars and deliver keynote addresses and as for the university if no one is available from Delhi, what is the problem, it has the next best option, get the seminar inaugurated by the head of a sister
department. The faculty next door is as ‘national’ as anyone else…. so goes the new trend. Recently PU’s Department of Philosophy organised a national seminar on terrorism and the inaugural address was delivered by Prof Bhupinder Brar of the Department of Political Science. A national seminar on the ‘Rapid population growth of Haryana State’ was inaugurated by Mrs Kartar Devi, Haryana’s Health Minister. PU Vice-Chancellor Prof R.C. Sobti
presided over it. Similarly, a seminar organised by the English Department of DAV College invited Prof Anil Raina, Chairperson, Department of English, PU, to inaugurate it and Prof Akshaya Kumar of the same department to hold a workshop. Another so-called national seminar ended at the SGGS College,
Sector 26, where the Dean, University Instructions, Prof Veer Singh, delivered the keynote address on human rights. Sources add that
during the “seminar season” there can also be a real shortage of inaugurators and keynote address ‘givers’ that forces organisers to go in for whoever is available at a particular time. The seminar bug also hits the university and colleges, rather suddenly, since most of these seminars are sponsored by the University Grants Commission and have to be organised before the session ends to retain the flow of special funds. Also a UGC-sponsored seminar has to be a national seminar and while in majority of the cases a single speaker from outside Chandigarh and its environs is considered good enough to elevate the seminar to the national level, in many cases, however, when even one person cannot be rustled up, the organisers make do with their friends and colleagues. And the friends are only too glad in the process… after all they too will need inaugurators in the times to come. PU VC and the DUI end up inaugurating many of the national seminars held in the university. As a result while delivering the inaugural address the two have to sound like experts on almost everything under the sun and this could range from Persian to Clinical Psychology. Professor S L Sharma,
a former head of the Department of Public Administration, too is in high demand at these seminars. There is also very little insemination of new ideas at any of these seminars and often the same old theories are repeated ad-nauseum and the academics slap each other on their collective backs for a job well-done. Interestingly, while UGC is busy doling out money for these seminars it has not laid down any criteria for organising such seminars and ensure some quality control.
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City fascinates
German teacher
Chandigarh, December 17 A total of 167 children in the 11-18 year age group participated in the competition. The theme of the competition was to paint any thing that one could relate with Germany. ‘‘The idea was to know as to what these young children imagine and perceive about Germany’’, informs Ulrike. With a fascinating theme like that, the results were bound to be interesting. ‘‘Surprisingly, most of the children painted scenes depicting soccer matches and they even knew that which team had lost a particular match and vice-versa’’, said Ulrike. As many as 67 out of the total received entries were short-listed and Ulrike selected final 12 from among them. The finalists got certificates as well as a trophy at a function organised at the Punjab Kala Bhawan, Sector-16. A well-known artist of the region, Shiv Singh, was the co-judge for the competition. The 12 selected posters would be made into a calendar for the year 2007.Being a native of Germany, Ulrike affirms the fact that although her country and India never had any close ties but there were similarities between the two cultures. ‘‘The basic structure of the languages of the two countries is quite similar’’. At the same time she agrees that learning German is a bit difficult as compared to other popular foreign languages such as French and Spanish. Ulrike, who is visiting Chandigarh for the first time, was always fascinated by the architecture of the city. ‘‘In Europe, the students of architecture are taught about Chandigarh as a planned city.
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Fun’n frolic mark annual day celebrations
Mohali, December 17 Several colourful events and presentations by schoolchildren won the hearts of parents and guests. The nursery dance on song - “Let’s party to night”, set the tone and mood of the show by raising the pitch of the annual show to an all time high. Adding colour and variety to the show was dance by LKG students on the Theme Festivals of India. Ms Preneet Singh, Principal, Asmah International School reiterated the belief and resolve of the school management to focus on the overall development of the students. Prize distribution
Students of Shivalik Public School here celebrated their annual day today. The chief guest, Mr M.L. Sharma, PCS, started the proceedings with the lighting of the ‘lamp of knowledge’. The main attraction of the function was that each participant was given a prize as token of appreciation to boost his or her spirits. In his address, Mr Sharma appreciated the efforts put in by the students and stressed on the role of a teacher as the paramount guide in the life of a student. Earlier in the day, students of the primary wing of the school’s Chandigarh branch celebrated their annual prize distribution and cultural programme. Mrs Gurkiran
Nalwa, vice-principal, presented the annual report highlighting the achievements of the school and goals set up for the future.
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Workshop for teachers held
Chandigarh, December 17 Ms Illa Vij, a freelance ELT professional, was the resource person at the workshop. Trained by the University of Cambridge and the British Council, Illa conducted the workshop in a lively and interactive manner. She said listening was an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supported learning in multiple ways. More than 35 teachers from various schools in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh attended the workshop which received positive
feedback. The teachers found that the workshop was much more improvised in terms of the methodology used. Meanwhile, Mr Biin Kumar, Manager, British Council Library, announced that membership of the library would reopen on January 7. There were 2000 seats, out of which 400 were for family membership, 700 for classic or DVD movie membership and 900 for individual or personal memberships. The seats would be filled on first come first serve basis.
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Students mesmerise
Panchkula, December 17 Students in colourful attires presented a western dance. A hilarious play — The Dumb Wife of Cheapside — was enacted by senior students. Yoga and Taekwondo performances also formed a part of the function. A bhangra performance by students stole the show. The DIG, Dr R.C. Mishra, was the chief guest. He appreciated the efforts of the students. The programme came to an end with the National Anthem.
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A musical tribute to K.L. Saigal
Chandigarh, December 17 Maintaining the same sentiment Padma shri Dr BN Goswamy reiterated that both KL Saigal and Punkaj Mullick had established an immortal mystical bond between themselves and their inquisitive admirers. “These peerless maestros had virtually no parallel as far as their soulful “gayaki” style is concerned and their timeless melodies will keep us rejuvenated”, opined Dr Goswamy. He was the chief guest at the function ‘Yadon ki Kasak’ organised by the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi in association with Saigal Sangeet Sarita in honour of senior citizens at Tagore Theatre yesterday. Prominent artistes from Delhi and the region brought alive the charismatic touch of the golden voices of Saigal and Mullick. Ajit Singh (83) gave a serene but majestic start with an immaculate rendition of “Chaah barbaad karegi.’ and ‘Hat gayi oh kali ghata..’ He mesmerised the audience while delving deep into the ‘khairaz’ with brilliance. Dinesh Sharma kept the magical touch in his classic presentation’ Diya Jalaa’ and Ikk Bangla Bane,,’ Ninan Koshi augmented the melody with ‘Doh nyana matwaare and ‘karun kya aas..’ He also sang ‘Chale pawan ki and Tere mandir mein; immortalised by Punkhaj Mullick. RP Sinha from the Delhi trio too enlivened the memory of Devdas with ‘Balam aan baso..’ and a dhrupad based Sapat suran. RS Chopra and Radha Chopra doled out duets like ‘Chandni raat..’ while Bhupinder Singh’s ‘Qatibe taqdeer, Ayee bahaar’, Rajinder Singh’s ‘Jhoola na jhulao’ and Jasdip Kaur’s ‘Kaahe ko’ and ‘Madhukar Shaam’ were well received. The grand finale was provided by the akademi chairperson Kamal Tewari with soulful rendition of ‘Yeh raaten ye mausam..’ immortalised by Punkhaj Mullick. |
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Folk singers enthral
Chandigarh, December 17 The programme commenced with a devotional song by Rajinder Jaula before Sangeeta took the centre stage. She presented various songs like 'Ni meini Jogan hoyee' laced with the folk fervour. Krishan Rahi, too, kept the folk ingredient alive through his songs especially those immortalised by legendary singer Surinder Kaur.
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