Jalandhar, December 29
From the major decision of upgrading the nutritional value of the mid-day meal served in government schools to taking up initiatives to generate interest in subjects like science and mathematics, the district education authorities witnessed development works throughout the year.

While on one hand the educational sector saw the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009, passed by the Lok Sabha which ushered in a new hope of reforms in the free elementary education, on the other, it saw the HRD Ministry’s formal announcement of introducing grading system instead of marks in class X in all CBSE schools from the current academic session.

The Tribune spoke to some educationalists about their plans in the New Year. DEO (Secondary) Joginder Dass said keeping in mind the need to improve the standard of education in government schools, we have prepared the schedule of the monthly inspections which would 
definitely bear fruits.

“The monthly inspections would be suggestive in nature, aimed at improving things rather than complaining the matter without any positive changes,” he added.

The district education authorities also aim at going online with all the major changes and policies which would be implemented in New Year. The authorities are also set to implement monitor diaries where students would keep check on the performance of a teacher.

“We would be conducting a district-level quiz competition for the students, to make them aware of the basic fundamentals of science and mathematics. And a separate test for both the subjects would be held on January 8,” he said.

At the same time, efforts to provide free computer education till class VIII is also on the cards. The authorities are looking forward to introduce an “inspire award” for students excelling in science and social sciences. “We would be conducting a district-level science fair with cash awards and scholarships to 
winners,” he added.

Among the colleges, Lyallpur Khalsa College is set to come up with major development planks which would benefit scores of youngsters to realise their dreams of availing quality education.

Principal Jaspal Singh Randhawa said the college was coming up with the KCL Institute of Management and Technology, another educational institution, exactly opposite Khalsa 
College.

The construction work on the Rs 3-crore management institution has begun. “The institute affiliated to PTU, would run management courses as per the AICTE norms,” he said.

He added that the college had introduced pay scales for lecturers in New Year.

“This was a long-pending demand of the teaching fraternity and our college is the first to introduce enhanced pay scales for the teachers under our Khalsa College Lyallpur Charitable Trust,” said Dr Randhawa.

The college is also planning to start diploma in physiotherapy and a masters programme in the physiotherapy courses in the field of sports. The college would celebrate its diamond jubilee and would witness a function on February 5 and 6.

Aiming at enhancing the skills of the students, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya would be coming up with a mega skill development centre on the premises of the college. Principal Junesh Kakaria said the students would be getting training in the disciplines of graphics, fashion designing, beauty culture, animation, multimedia, etc.

She said the college would also be equipped with a new girls’ hostel during New Year, besides a complete overhaul of the college auditorium with sound acoustics.

Jayant Patnaik (20), a student of Pandit Ramakant, performs Jhap Taal during the competition. Photos by writer

Budding Artiste 

Jalandhar, December 29
Year 2009 nearly remained a source of embarrassment for citizens, doctors and health officials of Jalalndhar. If calculated roughly, one half of the year 2009 remained shadowed by the threat of dengue fever and the other half was captured by swine flu, which is yet waiting to attain its peak.

All reporting units of dengue, in which private nursing homes and clinics were also involved, nearly failed to refer suspected dengue cases to the Civil Hospital which is the only sentinel surveillance centre in the region. Approximately 30 cases were referred from these units, number of which ranges from 300 to 350 in the region.

Though a machine has been delivered to the Civil Hospital, the health authorities are still waiting for a licence from the central drugs authorities to run Aphaeresis machine needed to extract platelets from donors in the blood bank of the hospital. The Civil Hospital got a trauma centre under the National Rural Health Mission, but four-wheeled ambulances, carrying dying patients, hardly found clear road to reach the centre timely.

Although health officials performed well during the first swine flu outbreak and saved 12 students, the health system miserably failed to tackle the second outbreak of the disease. Swine flu caused 13 deaths in the district. Till now 41 patients have been tested positive for the disease. In the absence of any testing facility and difficulty in making early diagnosis rendered health officials mute spectators.

Despite voicing high regarding the National Rural Health Mission, the department is still waiting for doctors to join health centres. A team of doctors, according to the norms of the Indian Public Health Standards, is not available in nearly all community health centres of the district. There are only four female medical officers in 15 health centres, which are converted into first referral units under the NRHM. Sixty-one 61 staff nurses are working against the required number of 85 in the NRHM-run health centres.

The district health department received another jolt when a team of vigilance arrested the Medical Superintendent and his clerk on the charge of corruption. Both the suspects remained in the ICU wards of the same 430-bed hospital, which now runs in the absence of the Medical Superintendent.

Libraries and complaint-cum-suggestion boxes still remained locked. Roofs adjoining the labour room of gynaecology ward are still seeping. Despite the visits of representatives of human right bodies, radiographers are still waiting for the protection kits from x-rays. There is no taker for mammography machine.

Nearly nine posts out of 22 are still lying vacant and the authorities never bothered to induct dental surgeons.

On the other end, much-hyped Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences again failed to fulfil the hopes of residents of the region for quality healthcare. Even after a series of 22 meeting of the governing body of the PIMS, the institute is still waiting to take off.

The high magnitude of stress on immunisation officials and their teams due to repeated rounds of pulse polio left quality of immunisation in rural areas compromised.

Near-absence of screening of causes of deaths in rural areas, buildings standing alone in the absence of doctors in the interiors and last death occurred due to the absence of delivery of first aid are still asking that will 2010 be better?

Jalandhar, December 29
“Life is an unrelenting struggle for everybody, but, more so for a young woman who has lost her husband. However bold or chaste she might be, the society always takes away her right to a respectable life. “It was only when my husband was killed in a road accident and I was thrown out of my in-laws’ house with two innocent kids to be brought up, did I realise that I have not only lost my partner, but also my freedom, my happiness, my house and a stable source of monthly income.”

Though, he was not a perfect husband I had dreamt of, but he was the father to my two children and the only man I shared my life with. He was a drug addict, but his death pushed me from frying pan to fire.

Today, I am employed on a contract basis in a government hospital and earn Rs 7,500 a month. Yet to get my first pay here, for the last two years I was working as a nurse for a monthly salary of Rs 3,500 in a private hospital. With inflation at an all time high in 2009, I felt all the more miserably helpless. I may acknowledge it as the second worst year in my life, the first being 2006 when I lost my husband,” confided Ramanpreet Kaur.

2009, a year of hysterical rise in the prices of essential goods coupled with pink slips and annoying reduction in the monthly earnings, proved hollow the Central government’s much hyped aam admi stand. The government even failed to address the basic issue of ensuring quality three meals to its citizens.

Compulsory free education, despite being the much debated issue of the year, failed to be translated into practice with most of a middle class family’s earning going into ensuring the right education to their children. “Put together the annual expenditure on their tuition fees, uniforms and books stand at Rs 30,000. Almost the same amount is spent on food, for a family of three. So, the expenditure on two basic necessities stands at Rs 60,000 which exceeds my annual earnings by Rs 18,000,” she explains.

“I feel like an unwanted burden on my parents. My father is a pensioner with a small agriculture land and has a family of four other than me and my kids to look after. It’s been almost two years that he has been paying for my expenses. But, what alternative do I have?” she asks.

“We are contemplating to shift my children to a government school as can no longer afford hefty fee of the private institution. I realize that it will certainly affect their self image.
Kids are very smart to assess the situations... They know very well that after their father’s death they have been falling down the slope,” she shares.

A post graduate in History and a qualified nurse, Ramanpreet Kaur (29) feels bad to see her father being pushed deeper into the quagmire of debt. “He has taken loan to the tune of Rs 2 lakh from the local money lender to pay for the treatment of my mother, a cancer patient. With increasing expenses and shrinking economy we are really facing hard times and a bleak future,” she rues.

She is not interested in the political developments in the country but feels that the change of governments is in no way related to the change of their life in any good way. “All we can do is pray to god to get us out of these problems,” she concludes.

Jalandhar, December 29
A senior medico, an excise and taxation officer, a banker, an education officer, a tehsildar, police personnel, senior employees of the Food Corporation of India and an inspector of the District Food and Supplies Department were the big fish that fell in the net of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) , Jalandhar, in 2009.

The VB registered 28 cases under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and of them 22 were “trap cases”, claimed Vigilance SSP S.S. Cheema.

The VB caught all the big fish red-handed while accepting bribe money from victims. The arrest of Dr Ashok Nayyar, Medical Superintendent of the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, on December 8, in a corruption case has exposed the corruption level in the Health Department.

Nayyar, said to be a close associate of Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, instead of being placed under suspension was given a plum posting of Deputy Director, Punjab Health System Corporation, Chandigarh.

He was charged with taking a bribe Rs 5,000 through his subordinate Ramesh Chander, a clerk, from chief pharmacist Pawan Kumar.

Surinder Singh Rubby, ETO, Jalandhar Division-II, was nabbed red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 from Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Folarhiwal village, located in Lambra township, on March 18.

The ETO was demanding Rs 50,000 for an excise permit of liquor vend which he had applied in the names of his father and brother.

Kapurthala-based Tehsildar Manjit Singh was arrested with a gratification money of Rs 10,000 that he had demanded for the mutation of a land piece on November 20.

Prem Chand Gupta, District Education Officer, Nawanshahar, fell in the VB’s net on the complaint of Sarabjit Singh, a shop owner in Bharapur village, near Balachaur.

The DEO reportedly was seeking a bribe of Rs 10,000 to make up for the amount that he had spent in getting him transferred from Ropar to Nawanshahr.

A Station House Officer, Goraya, Ganga Singh, too fell in the trap laid by the VB and was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 on January 23. He was accused of providing a clean chit to a suspect in a criminal case registered against him.

Rajinder Singh, AG-I, Food and Supplies Department, was a prey of the VB who was arrested with a bribe money of Rs 10,000 on December 16.

A Food and Supplies Inspector of Begowal, Arun Kapoor was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2,500 from Jasbir Singh, a resident of Begowal, on April 8. He was demanding Rs 3,000 for the issuance of a duplicate ration card.

Mohan Lal, a manager of Punjab and Sindh Bank, was arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 on May 20. He was accepting the bribe for increasing bank limit of a customer.

Jalandhar, December 29
Students of the Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya organised an NSS camp in the college. As many as 100 students participated in the camp during which door to door surveys were held, people were encouraged to save water, keep surroundings clean, act against drug abuse, female foeticide and provide quality education to the girl child. The camp started on December 21 and concluded on December 27.

A similar seven-day NSS camp is being organised by the students of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya at Kangniwal village. During the camp, students, along with the women studies centre, undertook various projects for economic and social development of women at the village. The students also participated in a 
plantation drive. A free medical check up camp was held, besides lessons in cosmetology, nutrition, block printing, stitching were provided to women by the department of fashion designing.

The local St. Soldier 
College, Basti Danishmandan, also organised a seven-day NSS camp, during which students, in association with villagers, took up a cleanliness drive at Gillan village. The students were extended 
support by the Sarpanch of the village, Karnail Singh and former sarpanch, Raghbir Singh. Students took out a cleanliness drive in the village streets, religious places, schools, cremation grounds and 
panchayat ghar.

Sweaters distributed

As many as 35 students of the Government Senior Secondary School, Bundala, were given sweaters by Ginder Singh SDO, Public Works Department, Nakodar. Principal of the school, Kulwinder Singh Sarai appreciated the philanthropic initiative.

Grandparents’ Day

Grandparents’ Day was celebrated at the local Ambika Modern School on December 24. On this occasion, tiny tots from kindergarten sang rhymes and songs for their grandparents. A play Christmas Carol was also presented by the students. The students also participated in different games.

Christmas celebrations

Students of the local Seth Hukum Chand S.D. Public Senior Secondary School celebrated Christmas with great fervour. They sang Christmas Carols and were given gifts and sweets on this occasion.

The State Public School, Shahkot also celebrated Christmas along with the tiny tots of the school. On this occasion, students participated in candle decoration and brought different dishes from their homes. Students also participated in different types of games, which were held on the school campus.

Arts competition

An Inter-House Fine Arts Competition was organised for B.Ed students at the local Paradise College of Education. Students participated in events like Land scape, Still life, Cartooning, Sketching, Glass painting, Pot painting, Collage making, Poster making and much more. Moni secured first position in Landscape, Sonia in cartooning, Kamalpreet in sketching, Anju in Collage making, Kulwinder in Pot making and Neelu Bala in Still life while Mahatma Gandhi House was declared the overall champion.

School fete

Suman Day Boarding Senior Secondary School organised an annual fete where the students put up stalls and performed dance. MD Tarsem Lal Sarvari and Principal Madhu Sarvari gave away prizes on 
the occasion.

Prithvi’s contest

Prithvi’s Planet, a family fun place, has been organising dance competitions for children for the last six years. It was started 
to help the children to have fun on Christmas.

This year, there were three age-based categories, 5-6, 7-9 and 10-12. There were four judges, Ravneet Brar, also the chief guest, Sunil Rishi, Preena Bawa and Inderjot Bawa.

The winners of the competitions were given cash prizes. The first prize was Rs 1,000, second worth
Rs 750 and the third Rs 500. Under the 5-6 year category, Sukhmani won the first prize, Ankita Sharma second and Arshdeep Singh third. Arshya Gagneja bagged the best costume award.

Under the 7-9 category, Avneet Kaur won the first prize, while Jasmeen Kaur and Raghav Dhingra got the second and third prizes, respectively. Tanya Dhir got the best costume award.

Under the 10-12 category, Harnoor Kaur, Urvashi and Manpreet Singh got the first, second and the third prizes, respectively. The best costume award went to Akanksha Sharma.

Phagwara, December 29
National Bahujan Samaj Morcha President Satnam Singh Kainth has suggested that the Central and state governments should work together to solve core issues of the country like price rise, unemployment, corruption and Naxal trouble in different parts of the country.

Talking to newsmen here, Kainth said these core issues should be taken on priority jointly by the Central and state governments leaving the political differences behinds. He said only joint efforts could bring results.

Kainth expressed his concern on the present political and social scenario and said politicians should come with one voice to combat these crisis situations.

Answering a question about the increasing Naxalite movement, Kainth said misguided youths should be influenced to join the mainstream in an affectionate way.

Commenting upon the political and social scenario of Punjab, Kainth said all pre-poll promises should be fulfilled and politicians of the ruling parties should meet common man to hear and solve their problems. Kainth alleged that poor and middle class citizens were the main sufferers.

Jalandhar, December 29
An in-service training programme for postgraduate teachers (PGTs) of English at Kendriya Vidyalayas all over the country is being held at KV-1, Jalandhar cantonment. The programme started on December 23 and would conclude on January 1, 2010.

The programme is being held for the teachers who are teaching the students of classes XI and XII. As many as 40 teachers from different parts of northern region under the Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) Sangathan are taking part in the programme.

Prof Devinder Singh from the Postgraduate Department of English of the local Doaba College was the resource person on the opening session of the programme.

He said that in the era of rapid globalisation, English as a language had emerged as the necessity of society.

He also emphasised on the correct usage of the language’s syntax and grammar to construct meaningful sentences.

School Principal Jugal Kishore said that the KV Sangathan, an autonomous body of the Ministry of HRD, had conducted the in-service training programme to inform the teachers about the recent developments in the field of teaching and education.