Jalandhar, July 30
The Education Department would take the services of psychology teachers to counsel students of government schools, said Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan here on Friday.

Sekhwan was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function in the Lyallpur Khalsa Collegiate Senior Secondary School.

“The psychology teachers would be appointed to provide career guidance to students of government schools across the state. It has been noticed that the students of government schools face difficulty in choosing subjects and good career options,” the Education Minister added.

Sekhwan also said selected psychology teachers would be paid honorarium for their services. “This initiative will surely benefit scores of students in the state. As the parents of these students lack proper information about better career opportunities, it is important to bridge this gap by providing counselling to students,” he added.

Further sharing his plans about reforms in education policies in the state, the minister said he was contemplating over the need to start libraries in villages, which would equip rural students with quality books and reading material for their studies. “We will soon materialise this initiative,” said the Education Minister.

Gurdaspur, July 30
Notwithstanding tall claims being made from time to time by the district administration that it was providing suitable healthcare to people particularly those living in the countryside, doctors are playing truant with monotonous regularity.

A team of the district administration, led by the Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Pardeep Sabharwal, raided the Community Health Centres (CHCs) at Kahnuwan and Bhaini Mian Khan, both predominantly rural areas of this border district, and found many doctors and other paramedical staff absent from duty.

Among the top officials, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of Kanhuwan CHC, Dr Jagan Nath Pal, and the SMO of Satnam Singh Bajwa Memorial CHC of Bhaini Mian Khan, Dr Malkit Singh, were found absent from duty. Out of a total staff of 78 employees of the Kahnuwan CHC, nearly 50 per cent staff were not present when the ADC raided the centre.

“The availability of medical practitioners, a crucial component of quality healthcare, depends not only on filling posts, but also on ensuring that these doctors are not frequently absent,” added Pardeep Sabharwal.

In absence of qualified doctors in rural areas, unqualified private practitioners, who have either no training or do have training in alternate system of medicine but prescribe allopathic medicines, are running flourishing money spinning businesses. Such private practitioners are able to attract clientele for two reasons. These are non-availability of qualified doctors; and secondly, because most of the medical conditions for which services are sought are of the common type, for which the quasi-trained practitioners can often offer some relief.

A senior doctor disclosed, “However, the medical services provided by practitioners, who largely practice in a discipline in which they have no training is, in the broader context, highly damaging. For example, indiscriminate and injudicious use of antibiotics by these unqualified medical practitioners means these so-called doctors are playing havoc with the lives of poor people.”

Deputy Commissioner Mohinder Singh Kainth said, “Teachers working in border areas of this district are next on my radar. I have been receiving reports that the incidence of absenteeism among education service providers in these areas is very high. I have formed several teams, each one headed by a senior officer, which will conduct surprise checks.”

Jalandhar, July 30
Just after a day of his joining, Divisional Commissioner Anurag Verma pulled up the tehsildars and naib tehsildars for slow progress in the computerisation of land records in the district.

Verma was heading a meeting of revenue officers and other officers of the district administration on Friday.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shruti Singh, however, claimed that the ‘fard kendars’ of Nakodar, Shahkot, Adampur and Bhogpur have been made functional.

He asked the Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) and tehsildars to send dummy customers to these centres to check out their functioning.

Verma expressed displeasure that less than half of the villages in the district had been computerised till date. He asked the BOOT-operator to speed up the data entry work. He also directed the DC to take action against the company in case of any default on its part.

For ensuring the quality of the data, he directed the tehsildars to personally monitor 25 per cent of the records.