The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Parents’ assn sets up childline to check abuse in schools
Sumit Hakhoo

Jammu, April 29
An association of parents formed recently to protest arbitrary fee hike by private schools has now formed a helpline to prevent corporal punishment and harassment of children in educational institutions, especially big private schools. Victims can register their complaints here.

Association recently approached the High Court to restrict the private institutions affiliated to the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) to charge annual fee from people every year.

The Association members have alleged that despite a ban imposed by the Supreme Court in 2000, there have been dozens of incidents of harassment of students by teachers such as punishment over small issue in classrooms. They said such incidents remain unreported because parents feel that it would create problems for their wards.

The association members have alleged that at times, the child is forced to sit in a secluded area and not allowed to take part in activities with fellow students.

"Over past few weeks since our opposition to the fee hike by the big private schools, such incidents have increased. Recently a student in a prestigious private school owned by a business family faced mental harassment after his parents refused to pay the annual fee," said Association president Raj Kumar. He said parents have started speaking up against such incidents.

The High Court had recently restrained the schools, including KC International School, from charging annual fee and other charges which are not prescribed by the state government.

“After the order management adopted another tactics to torture students on the pretext of recovery of fee and charges. One institute had issued a communication in violation of the rules and court direction, thereby forcing the parents to sign an undertaking by the parents to declare themselves as non- participant of the recent agitations," said Sanjay Kumar, another parent.

Officials of the Directorate of School Education (DSE) declined to comment on the issue. Director, School Education, Jammu, P Pole, could not be contacted.

Getting tough on schools

Despite a ban imposed by the Supreme Court in 2000, there have been dozens of incidents of harassment of students by teachers such as punishment over small issue in classrooms. They said such incidents remain unreported because parents feel that it would create problems for their wards.

Bring Sarabjit home for treatment: Shiv Sena
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
Protests against intrusion by China and brutal attack on Indian prisoner Sarbjit Singh in Pakistan's Kot lakhpat jail continued here today. The protesters demanded a tougher policy against the two neighbouring countries. They demanded aggressive posture against the Red Army unit which had entered Ladakh.

Members of the Dogra Front and the Shiv Sena under the leadership of their president Ashok Gupta took out a rally condemning the attack on Sarbjit and failure of the Congress-led UPA government to deal with Pakistan. “Even after the death of Chamel Singh and beheading of an Indian soldier, the Congress has given up all options," said Gupta.

They demanded that Pakistan should clarify its stand on Sarbjit and the government must build diplomatic pressure to get Sarbjit back to the country.

Wrong policies mar education campaign
RK Kichlu

Batote, April 29
Given the public response, the six-day statewide campaign for the community mobilisation to enhance the enrolment of children in government schools that ended here yesterday, appeared to be a damp squib because of the government’s wrong policies and timing.

In order to make more and more such children literate, as are indulging in menial jobs or loitering idle and are prone to anti-social activities, the Directorates of School Education, Jammu and Kashmir, had directed the chief education officers to organise the enlisted programmes accordingly under different coordinators from April 22 to 26.

For this purpose, a meeting of public representatives (PRs) was convened by the in-charge of all but the primary schools in the respective panchayats on April 22 to make the, aware of the education policies and programmes of the government.

On April 23, the same message was spread through drum beating under the supervision of the concerned zonal education officers (ZEOs).On April 24, heads of all but primary schools had organised a symposia, involving local PRs, village education committees and citizens, on ‘The importance of education/ facilities provided by the government’ was organised.

On April 25, similar exercise was performed at the zonal level, involving the first three winners of each school in the previous symposia. On April 26, students, holding placards and banners, staged rallies at the zonal levels monitored by the respective ZEOs for the purpose.

On April 27, similar student rallies organised by the heads of the institutions at each district level were flagged off by the respective Deputy Commissioners.

“The campaign may not have yeilded the desired results as farmers are engrossed in cultivation these days, they are unaware about the importance of education among villagers and their PRs, the publicity mainly through English medium, the callousness of the government and the society in supporting the poor who cannot afford to buy ration even for Rs 2 or Rs 3 per kg” said Bodhraj Bandral, retired headmaster.

Classrooms a distant dream here
Ranjit Thakur

Rajouri, April 29
The condition of government schools is not only dismal in the backward areas of border district Rajouri only, but such picture is common in cities also. Hundreds of schools are still awaiting renovation of buildings and other basic facilities.

One of the examples of this are government high schools of Jawahar Nagar, Rajouri, where infrastructure is so ailing that girl students are forced to sit on the ground in scorching heat owing to the absence of classrooms.

Sources said the school building of Girls High School, Jawahar Nagar, is under renovation from the past few months under the centrally sponsored scheme Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhijan (RMSA) and all classes had been shifted to the building of the District Institute of Educational and Training (DIET), where five rooms were allotted to school authorities. Unfortunately, out of these five rooms, three were captured by influential local contractor.

For the past few months, this school is running under single classroom and students have their own seating arrangements. They have been sitting on mats. A teacher explained that the school could not afford to make seating arrangements due to insufficient aid.

District present of the BJP Bharat Bhushan Vaid today staged a massive protest against the school authorities after one minor girl fainted in the school ground owing to scorching heat. After the protest of BJP activists, Officiating Chief Education Officer, Rajouri, Saif Ali rushed to spot and evacuated the rooms captured by the contractor. Saif Ali admitted that owing to lack of accommodation students were forced to take classes in open, but he said they had now sorted out the issue by providing additional classrooms.

Science Express a huge draw
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
The Science Express Biodiversity Special is drawing attention of a large number of people, particularly children, to the beautiful and scenic valley of Bajalta, about 10 km from the city. The Biodiversity Special train will stay there for four days.

The exhibition and display will remain open for the visitors daily from 9 am to 4 pm. There are 16 coaches in the train representing biodiversity of each bio-geographic region of the country.

Special photo exhibition of Gharana wetland and migratory birds by bird conservationist Guldev Raj has also been put up at the platform.

Chief Wildlife Warden AK Singh and Managing Director of the State Forest Corporation Abhay Kumar inaugurated the express yesterday.

The Science Express Biodiversity Special, under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, is stationed at the Bajalta railway station as per the tour schedule.

Meanwhile, Col Vimal Narang, along with 05 NCC Officers and 94 NCC cadets of NCC Group HQ Jammu, under the command of J&K NCC Directorate, visited the mobile science exhibition at the Bajalta railway station to learn about the biodiversity of the country, climate change and other environmental issues through the science exhibition.

Stationery items distributed
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
Stationery items were distributed among the poor students of Government Girls Primary School, Maghai in Pouni Zone. Joga Singh, bank manager of Bhamla branch along with his father, Karan Singh, Sarpanch Kewal Krishan, school staff and others visited the school and distributed school bags, copies, pens etc.

The Sarpanch expressed his gratitude for distribution of stationery items among the students. Karan Singh said all 32 students were very happy after receiving the school bags, copies and pens.

“Our family has a long tradition to take such initiatives to help the needy people in the society.

Earlier, we used to donate money in Gurudwaras, but now we have decided to do it in a different way. Each member of our family donates some money every month from his income and then we purchase items from that amount”, he added.

DYSS told to take time-bound steps to implement sports policy
Vikas Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
The Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) has been asked to take decisive and time-bound measures for proper implementation of the proposed Sports Policy draft in order to ensure uplifting of sports scenario in the state in a phased manner.

Sources said Minister for Youth Services and Sports Taj Mohi-ud-Din had recently stated that the government would ensure that each higher secondary and high school must have three playfields so that competitions in multi-disciplines would be conducted to tap the sports talent among students of the government educational institutions.

The sources further said keeping in mind the pivotal role being played by the educational institutions in the promotion of sports, the state government in its proposed Sports Policy draft had ensured one sport compulsory for each student up to the school-level. The DYSS will act in collaboration with various departments of the state and sports associations, universities etc in this regard to yield maximum benefits from this scheme.

Newly appointed Director General of the Youth Services and Sports Naveen Aggarwal, soon after taking over the charge, had emphasised upon strengthening of overall sports infrastructure, particularly in rural and remote areas of the state.

“The Director General has issued instructions to all officials of the department to prepare an annual calendar of activities, including championships at district and state level,” sources in the DYSS said.

“The recent press conference organised by the department few days ago to release the calendar of activities was part of that decision taken earlier during the introductory meeting convened by the DG after sports scholarships function at Gandhi Nagar,” said sources.

Meanwhile, as per the Sports Policy draft, every school will be encouraged to focus on at least two games for image and confidence building. The sports department will also set up and maintain an interactive website that shall contain all necessary information, new schemes of the department, a database on the latest of designs, measurement of playfield, records of championships at the state, national and international-level, international participants and medal tally in national competitions.

Pertinently, The Tribune had mentioned that as per the proposed Sports Policy draft, the Sports Council would be strengthened. An Engineering Cell for the development and maintenance of the stadiums, legal cell, IT cell and cooperative services, officials will work in the sports council cadre or on deputation.

Website on sports activities

The sports department will also set up and maintain an interactive website that shall contain all necessary information, new schemes of the department, a database on the latest of designs, measurement of playfield, records of championships at the state, national and international-level, international participants and medal tally in national competitions.

District-level sports competitions to be organised in May
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
As per the recently released annual calendar of activities by the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS), the district-level competitions for Jammu Division for 2013-14 will commence in May.

The U-17 boys kabaddi tournament of Rajouri district will be held from May 8 to 9 at Lamberi. Jammu district will hold this at Domana from May 15 to 18. Similarly, Samba will host the event from May 14 to 15.

The U-19 boys football tournament for Ramban will be held from May 30 to June 1 while the competition in Jammu will kick start on August 16. Samba will not host the sporting event while in Kathua, the competition will be held at Basholi on August 16. Udhampur district will organise the tournament at sports stadium from August 20 to 25 while in Rajouri district, the competition will be held from August 10 to 18 at mini stadium.

Similarly, U-17 hockey tournament for boys and girls will be held in the districts of Jammu, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch. In Jammu, the competition will be held from August 16 to 17 while in Samba, it will be conducted from August 19 to 22. Rajouri district will host the competition from May 8 to 9 while in Poonch district, the event will be held from May 13 to 14 at sports stadium. The U-19 boys and girls Volleyball tournament for all districts of Jammu division will start from June 19.

Farmers get new wheat harvesting machines
Devinder Thakur

Katra, April 29
As the time to harvest the wheat crop starts, lack of labour is adding to the worries of the farmers. This time, the Department of Agriculture has introduced new harvesting machines.

Jodh Singh, a farmer from Reasi, said, “Earlier we were dependent on farm workers for harvesting the crop and most of the time we were unable to hire the requisite manpower in time. However, new harvesting machines are wonderful. It just takes two hours for 20 kanal of farm.”

“A worker can barely harvest two kanals of land a day. With the shortage of labour, it was unimaginable to accomplish the job within the requisite period. We requested the authorities concerned to look into the issues and encourage mechanised harvesting,” said Pritam Singh, a farmer from Seela village.

Chief agriculture officer RK Safaya said there was a dire need for the introduction of machinery, including combines, and efforts were on to help the farmers under various subsidy schemes.

“The department has set up agri-business centres to help farmers procure machinery for agricultural purposes. Last year, the lack of labour caused a delay in harvesting and resulted in quality issues. This year, we introduced new wheat harvesting machines in Reasi and overcame the problem of labour shortage,” he said.

Community hall opens at Shanker Nagar
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
Minister for Housing Raman Bhalla today dedicated a multipurpose community hall to the people of Shanker Nagar Channi Rama. The hall has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 41 lakh.

After inaugurating the hall, the minister said the state government was making all efforts to provide infrastructure facilities to the people, adding that in this regard, the government had prepared a comprehensive plan to meet the developmental needs of the people.

Bhalla said the community hall would facilitate the people, particularly the poor lot Shanker Nagar and its adjoining areas, to organise their social and religious functions on minimum charges. He said the hall had been constructed in 4,000 sq ft area and included basement with the facilities of kitchen and toilet.

The minister also said the government has earmarked Rs 1 crore for the construction of another double storey multipurpose community hall at Malik Market.

Six cops injured in stone pelting
Our Correspondent

Rajouri, April 29
Six policemen were injured in stone pelting while trying to rescue a woman from some people allegedly trying to kill her over a land dispute at Raj Nagar of Budhal here today.

Jatti Devi migrated from Nambal and lives in Raj Nagar after militants killed few families in 2005, which included her husband.

She had a dispute with a local Girdawar Salam Din who claimed that her land belonged to him and allegedly tried to set her house ablaze along with his four sons and a daughter, reports said. The accused threw stones at the police party leaving six of them injured.

Fact file

Jatti Devi had migrated from Nambal and lives in Raj Nagar after militants killed few families in 2005, including her husband.

Sushma wins debate contest
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
Vimal Muni College of Education, Ramgarh, today organised a debate competition on ‘Ayurveda vs allopathy’ on the college premises here. Chairperson of the college Anu Gupta was the chief guest, while Dr GQ Sheikh was the guest of honour.

A total of 10 students participated in the competition. Sushma, Mittu Sharma and Meetu Devi were adjudged first, second and third, respectively. The participating students highlighted the origin, meaning and application of both allopathy and ayurveda with special reference to modern approach of treatment in different diseases.

Dr Sheikh also shared his valuable views on the topic with the students. Faculty member, namely Meena Verma, Urmal Kumari and Vijay Laxmi, were the judges.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairperson encouraged the students to participate in more of such debate competitions. Principal of the college SD Gupta also spoke on the occasion.

SFD ad hoc panel formed
Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29
A meeting of Social Forestry Department Employees Association was held in the office complex at Talab Tillo. In the meeting adhoc committee of office bearers was constituted.

The committee comprises of Romesh Chander Langeh as president, Shivdev Singh Chib as senior vice president, Chaman Lal Pawa vice president, Madan Lal as general secretary, Ranbir Singh Bhau as office secretary, Subash Chander Sharma as cashier, Gulam Qadir as chief publicity officer and Subash Chander as organiser.