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Primary school in shambles
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Maths phobia on the wane
Challan Spree
Health is Wealth
Rly passengers’ body seek inspection of stations
Women’s Day celebrations
Eight-month-old ‘raped’
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Primary school in shambles
Bariwala (Muktsar), March 9 No drinking water facility, children without uniform, with some of them wearing tattered clothes, were playing in the school courtyard, which was now their open air classroom as well, because of the dingy rooms with unsafe roofs, cracked walls and broken blackboards. All the ten posts of teachers at the Bariwala Primary School are lying vacant for the second consecutive academic session, as the School Education department has been sending a teacher on deputation to this institution from one or the other school. When this correspondent visited this village school, after listening to the promises and assurances of the Education Minister in a Muktsar college two days ago, he saw three teachers sitting in a corner, informing that they have been sent here on deputation last month only “to conduct the just concluded final examinations of 5th standard and to coordinate with the other surrounding primary schools in terms of “administrative works”. It was found that the children drank water from outside, in absence of the waterworks supply, and the groundwater being highly contaminated. “We give them mid-day meal every day and things are in control,” said one of the visiting teachers. “Teaching on deputation for just a month here is not difficult, as we simply ask the students about the chapters covered by the previous teacher,” he said. Showing a school register, he explained that the result of this school was “quite satisfactory as only 10 out of 61 students in 4th standard had failed, while 8 out of 64 failed in the 1st standard”. “You could see that the overall result remains nearly 85 per cent despite all the prevailing odd conditions here,” he added. Pen as ‘pan’, twenty as ‘towanty’ were two of the many such words which were tick-marked as right in red ink by a teacher in the notebook of Jasbir Kaur, who has just been promoted to 5th standard and considered one of the best pupils in her class. Muktsar District Education Officer Harbans Lal Goyal has said that the schools without single permanent teacher or with a single teacher were the priority of the government at the time of filling the vacancies during the recruitment of teachers on contract which was now in the offing. |
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‘Agro-based industries should be promoted’
Abohar, March 9 He was addressing a press conference in the village Panjkosi today. Jakhar, a founder president of the Bharat Krishak Samaj and former Union agriculture minister, said only 32 per cent of the total agriculture land in India was getting water for irrigation. Availability of water would further decrease to an alarming situation after a decade. People in the Union capital as well as of Madhya Pradesh were not getting enough potable water at present. Better water management was need of the hour, he felt. Regretting that the Rs 40-crore vegetable and fruit processing plant installed here few months back had not become operational, Jakhar said food processing must be encouraged to benefit the farming community. He expressed concern over the increasing population and gender imbalance. Empowering the women by all means should be taken up seriously by all the states, he said. The Governor also denounced those who spread hatred over caste, creed and religion. He said those who indulged in provoking people for communal violence
were traitors. None should endanger the sovereignty and national integration for petty gains, he added. Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar also hosted a lunch in Panjkosi on Sunday to celebrate the birth of his great grand daughter. |
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Maths phobia on the wane
Bathinda, March 9 The subject is scoring but its intricacies and lack of understanding has made it tough but now the things are changing and modification in the CBSE examination pattern with 20 per cent marks for practicals and assessment has eased the burden to some extent, says Devanup, Maths teacher in St Joseph School, who is running a website to prepare the students for the examination. The CBSE examinations in Maths for X is slated for coming week but the students who have worked around the year look less worried and confident that they would fare well. 'We have prepared the subject with focus on examination and are fully conversant with type of paper and gone through a number of mock tests', said Amardeep, X class student. The 'World Maths Day' is also observed in first week of March every year and it was observed on March 5 this year. About one million students from 15,000 schools in 152 countries participated in the online maths test organised by "Mathematics Australia"and sponsored by 3 P Learning, Voyager and Cartoon Network with a view to create interest in the students. The class X students of the local Eastwood International School excelled in mental online test and all the students, required to solve maximum number of problems in a minute, performed brilliantly. All the students scored well crossing the maximum target of 1000 and thus became Golden Award recipients. Earlier such competitions were limited to a few surrounding towns and schools but internet has changed the scenario. The school proposes to span the entire length and breadth of not only our own country but wishes its students to compete at the international level also giving them the maximum exposure for a wholesome mental growth, Dean of the school Beena Rao. |
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Challan Spree
Bathinda, March 9 So the traffic police has started a challan spree in the city. This year, till February, 8,026 challans have been issued which has resulted in revenue collection worth Rs 98 lakh. The traffic police had issued 6,527 challans in 2007, collecting nearly Rs 68 lakh by way of fines and in 2006, the police had issued 5,480 challans and realised nearly Rs 53 lakh as fine for various traffic violations. The figures have been attained despite the fact that the challaning spree of the police does not cover every offence mentioned in Sub-Section 3 of the Section 206 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Challans in Bathinda have been limited to driving without helmet, overspeeding, using mobile phone while driving, wrong parking and underage driving, apart a few others. Some people allege that traffic police is using challans only to “earn money”. The police does not make efforts to educate the public about traffic rules and regulations. The police can be sighted hiding behind some shops to nab traffic violators and issuing challans to them, they explain. Bharpur Singh, traffic in-charge, did not agree. He maintained that the traffic police did hold awareness weeks from time to time to educate people. He added they also held camps on regular intervals and organised police-public meetings for better coordination. Clarifying on the increase in the number of challans this year, he said , it was entirely due to an increase in the violations and had nothing to do with making money through issuing challans. People say the police has been “efficient” in challaning as the person who books a violator gets a share. Senior officers, however, rubbished the allegation, saying no commission was given to the challaning officer. The money instead went to the government treasury, not even to the traffic police. |
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Health is Wealth
Bathinda, March 9 The overwhelming public patronage for such eateries is a cause for concern. The road adjacent to Shaheed Sandeep Public School in Paras Ram Nagar locality has become a popular place for families eating out in the evening. These unauthorised roadside vends in the area not only cause encroachments, but have also become a traffic hazard. Moreover, they sell unhygienic food at exorbitant prices. Instead of shunning this dirty and unhygienic food, a large number of citizens are unwittingly promoting these eateries by increasing their sale. The Gol Diggi area lights up in the evening as these roadside entrepreneurs start their business. The aroma of the food can be smelt by the passersby, often compelling them to stop for a while to taste the delicacies served there. One can have Chinese, south Indian and other fast food items like burgers, noodles, tikkis and chaat etc. The innocent customers do not know about hygienic conditions. They do not even know what material like oil, vegetables, sauces and grains was used for preparing the eatables. Medicos warn that sustained consumption of junk food can result in serious health hazards for the individual. Notes Dr P.R. Garg, “Undoubtedly, there has been an explosion of fast food eateries and people are keen on a quick munch.” “Low calorie diet is a must. Eating junk food once a day is no problem but it should be adequately compensated with physical work and the next diet should include more fibre-rich food. But it is better to avoid junk food, as the roughage is very low,” adds Dr Garg.. So, the snacking tendency should be curbed if people want to stay healthy,” advises Dr Garg. |
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Rly passengers’ body seek inspection of stations
Abohar, March 9 Joint secretary Hanuman Dass Goyal said in a memorandum faxed to the Board recently that Sriganganagar came under the Bikaner railway division whereas Abohar and Bhatinda was under the Ambala division. The railways earns millions through heavy passenger and goods train traffic on this section but basic amenities are being denied. An inspection by the committee would establish that the railway station on this section lacks potable drinking water facilities, proper seating arrangements in waiting halls and platforms, food plazas, hygienically run tea stalls besides urinals and toilets. The authorities had not taken interest in ensuring maintenance of the power generating equipment which were necessary during power breakdowns. The passengers complain that even the streetlights are not maintained properly, Goyal rued. |
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Women’s Day celebrations
Bathinda, March 9 The Eastwood International School, at Doombwali, also celebrated the Women’s Day on March 8. A host of guests were invited from different walks of life. There were teachers, doctors, lecturers, principals and housewives. Kuldeep Kaur from VLCC and Rimmi Mittal, a dietician from Bathinda, were invited for a talk about diet and weight management in women. The school also organised the “Spring Queen Contest” on the day. |
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Eight-month-old ‘raped’
Moga, March 9 Officiating SP Ashok Baath said that the girl had been admitted to the civil hospital and medical test would confirm the crime. A case has been registered in this connection under relevant
sections. |
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Rape case
Bathinda, March 9 |
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