The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Middle-level crisis hits education in dist Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Jalandhar, June 8 There cannot be any worse result than this one. While one of them remained absent throughout the examination, the remaining 24 students of Government Elementary School for Boys at Garha have failed in the class VIII Punjab School Education Board results declared recently. The boys, most of them belonging to poor families residing in the Garha colony, had been coerced by teachers to take to education for a better future. But a majority of them have not even been able to go beyond the middle level. Similarly, another city-based government school at Kirti Nagar on Ladowali Road, too, has shown a dismal performance. One of the 23 students remained absent in the exams. One managed to pass. One got a compartment and all the remaining ones have failed. These are not the only cases. While the DEO office here is yet to make an assessment, it is learnt that the pass percentage of government schools is less than 20 per cent in the district. All seven students at Government Middle School, Bhullar, have failed. At Government Elementary School, Dyalpur, none of the 29 students have been able to clear all subjects. Two of them remained absent. Six students got a compartment and the remaining 21 students have failed. Of the 52 students at Government Middle School, Aujla, five have got a compartment and the remaining 47 have failed. At Ismailpur School, one student was absent, one got a compartment and 21 failed. The school staff blames it on various factors including unfilled vacancies in different subjects, long leaves of the regular teachers of main subjects, sending staff on deputation with local administration, failure of the department to provide substitute teachers even for the main subjects, limited funds with the schools for providing an additional staff on their own, lengthy and complicated official record keeping, election duties and lack of interest of the students and parents for education. A case study on Kirti Nagar School can help one realise some of the major problems. All the six posts for teachers in the school are filled, but a peculiar problem ails the school. A regular mathematics and science teacher here has been on maternity leave, medical leave and earned leave since the past more than a year. The staff members say they had appointed a private teacher for the two main subjects from the development funds for two months but it did not help. A physical education teacher in the school has also not turned up in the school since the past seven months for he has been put on duty at the SDM office here. A peon and a watchman too have been working in the election department since a long time, further straining the staff with unnecessary duties. The staff members revealed that they had to repeatedly do the rounds of the education department themselves for getting various official duties accomplished, leaving the students suffering on account of loss of time. “When we go there, we are given various forms to fill. When we go again after filling these, several objections on conforming to the format are raised. We again make corrections and have to go once again to deliver the forms. As a result, a lot of time from the school schedule is wasted for petty jobs, leading to poor results,” the teachers said. “Since the parents are poor and uneducated, they do not pay attention to the studies of their children. The students too are very careless. We repeatedly motivate them to work hard but they fail to get the lessons right,” a school teacher said. But there have been exceptions too. All 69 students of the government school at Kili have passed, although two of them have got a compartment. Likewise, out of the 21 students of Government Elementary School, Rampur, just two have got a compartment. All 19 students of Government Middle School, Apra, have passed, though there have been seven compartment cases. However, a thorough look into the gazette of middle school examination of Jalandhar did not show any of the government schools getting 100 per cent pass percentage. District education officer (secondary) Harinder Sahni said he was helpless on most of the issues. He said as per government directions, the staff of all the schools that have shown less than 10 per cent result has been charge sheeted and asked to file a reply as to why they have failed to perform. He said an inquiry is then instituted on such matters.
	Raids on unauthorised clinics promising vitality Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 8 A four-member team from Chandigarh-based Board of Ayurvedic and Unani Systems of Medicine conducted surprised raids on nearly a dozen unauthorised Ayurvedic clinics located in different parts of the city here today. The team, led by the board chairman, Dr Ashwani Sharma, included Jagjit Singh, Dr Sanjiv Goel and Dr Rajesh. The team conducted raids on the unauthorised Ayurvedic clinics claiming to increase vitality in men located near the bus stand, Urban Estate, Phase I, Garha and railway roads. The raids started at around 10 in the morning and continued for nearly three and a half hour till 1.30 pm. Soon after conducted the raids, Dr Ashwani Sharma told The Tribune that the raids had been conducted on the instructions of Punjab minister Tiskshan Sood to check the quacks. Dr Sharma said these quacks had been giving unethical advertisements in different newspapers and magazines, especially read by NRIs, to attract them by claiming to increase vitality in men. Even qualified practitioners could not give such types of advertisements, he added. None of the dozen practitioners whose clinics were raided could produce any qualification to run these Ayurvedic clinics, he said, adding that it came to their notice during the raid that some practitioners had hired some BAMS degree holders but they too had not got themselves registered in Punjab. Dr Sharma said a Bengali running such clinic had hired a doctor from Himachal Pradesh, who had done his BAMS in Bangalore but he did not get himself registered in Punjab. Similarly a quack, K.D. Sharma, running his clinic near bus stand could not produce any qualification degree. The board chairman said the owner of Raj Dawa Khanna claimed that he joined the profession as his forefathers had been doing the same business. Dr Sharma said all owners of these clinics had been asked to produce their required degrees at Chandigarh office on Tuesday, failing which action as per law would be initiated against them. Under the prevalent rules, criminal cases might be registered against such quacks and their clinics might be sealed, he added.
	Left protests fuel hike, blocks rail traffic Tribune Reporters Hoshiarpur/Jalandhar, June 8 On the state-level call for “rail roko” given by the Left parties (CITU, CPM and CPI) to protest against the steep hike in the prices of petroleum products enforced by the UPA government, activists, led by Gurmesh Singh and Jagdish Singh Chokha, today squatted before a passenger train at the local railway station from 11 am to 12 noon. Addressing the gathering, all leaders accused the UPA government of unleashing economic terror on masses. Rail traffic was also blocked at Birampur and Mukerian railway station. Meanwhile, rail traffic on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana section was disrupted for a few hours when CPM activists blocked the track to protest against steep hike in petroleum products. The agitators also disrupted traffic on the Phillaur-Nakodar route, demanding an immediate rollback of the hike. The 2497 Delhi-Amritsar Shan-e-Punjab Express, the 2926 Deluxe Express and a Nakodar-bound goods train remained stranded near Phillaur station. The 2920 Malwa Express was also stopped at Goraya.
	Two pilgrims die, 6 hurt as jeep overturns Phagwara, June 8 Two pilgrims were killed, while six others sustained injuries as the Bolero jeep in which they were travelling overturned at Chaheru in Phagwara sub-division of Kapurthala district in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The deceased have been identified as Janardan Dwivedi and his wife Sadhani of Kishanpur village in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Those who have been injured include Girija Shankar, his wife Geeta Devi, Kamla Devi, Madho Prasad, Ramraj and Saroj Patalya. They were rushed to the civil hospital in Phagwara. According to the police sources, nearly 80 persons had started their pilgrimage from Laugawa village in Kaushambi district of UP on May 31. The group, which had already paid obeisance at temples located in Badrinath and Kurukshetra, started from Ambala at around midnight in three vehicles to visit Golden Temple in Amritsar and Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir. However, one of their vehicles overturned at Chaheru at around 4.15am on Sunday. — TNS
	Parties warm up for MC poll in Nawanshahr SAD, BJP meet finalises seat sharing Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, June 8 The political parties have started gearing up for the ensuing municipal council poll. Today, Vijay Sampla and Ajaib Singh Makhmailpura, state BJP and SAD leaders, who have been nominated the in charges of the district by their respective parties, at a meeting here finalised the seat sharing for the local MC poll. As per the seat adjustment, out of 17 seats, the SAD would contest 11 seats and BJP six seats. The BJP has also finalised its candidates - Dr Shiv Kumar Tejpal (ward 3), Ashwani Ballagan (ward 11), Pinky Dhir (ward 13), Balwant Singh (ward 14) and Charanjit Singh Fauji (ward 15). The BJP would also field its candidate in ward 16 and the name of the candidate is yet to be decided. Both SAD and Congress are yet to finalise their candidates. Former Congress minister Gurvinder Singh Atwal has held meetings with the local Congress leaders. A list of ward-wise prospective candidates have been prepared - Rattan Kaur, Manjit Kaur (ward 1), Keshav Narain Bhucher, alias Tony (ward 2), Gopal Markanda, Satish Rana, Vijay Kumar (ward 3), Padmini Sharma (ward 4), Hem Raj (ward 5), Baldev Singh Heer, Sartaj Singh Mangewalia (ward 6), Gurdev Kaur (ward 7), Kamaljit, Vinod Pinka, Manohar Lal (ward 8), Kulwant Kaur (ward 9), Nirmal Kaur (ward 10), Lalit Mohan Pathak, alias Ballu (ward 11), Rajinder Chopra (ward 12), Rakesh Kaur (ward 13), ward 14 is likely to be left for Dr Kamal, district Bahujan Samaj Morcha president, Pirthi Chand (ward 15), Santosh Sareen, Sru Khosla (ward 16), Chet Ram Rattan, Kundan Lal (ward 17). In the Congress list of prospective candidates, there are seven sitting municipal councillors. Meanwhile, the local Teachers Colony Welfare Association at its meeting has decided to field its own candidate in the locality falling under ward 3. The association has shortlisted three names, Rajesh Gaba, Vivek Markanda and Parvesh Kumar, as prospective candidates.
	Robbers loot old man after strangling him Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, June 8 Two robbers strangled Tulsi Ram (70), resident of Chohal, to death at his brother’s haveli early this morning and took away Rs 10,000 from his pocket.According to police sources, Tulsi Ram was a bachelor and had been living with his brother at Chohal village. He used to sleep at the haveli of his brother where milch animals were kept. Two looters, one of whom was identified as Anil Kumar of the same village, went to the haveli and after allegedly strangling Tulsi Ram to death decamped with the cash lying with him. The Sadar police has registered a case under section 460 of the IPC.