Punjab issues strict guidelines against ragging

Chandigarh: Punjab government issued strict instructions to all the technical institutions to take written undertaking from the students and their parents to not to take part in any kind of ragging activity.
 
Punjab Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Anil Joshi asked the government and private polytechnics and ITI's to get anti ragging affidavits from students as well as their parents at the time of admission.
 
Joshi asked the Technical Education Department to issue instructions to all the Technical Educational Institutions to follow the Supreme Court guidelines in this regard.
 
"Strict action would be taken against the institution found violating the norms," Joshi said.
 
All institutions have been ordered to set up a helpline for the ragging victims, and the aggrieved students could lodge their complaint before the college authority. 

Over 80 technical, management colleges closed shop this year

Chandigarh: Over 80 colleges in the area of technical and management studies have closed shop this year so far, with majority of them being management colleges, a top AICTE official said.

"81 colleges have closed down this year and out of which 50 colleges are of management and 8 are engineering colleges and rest in other streams," All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) Chairman S S Mantha told reporters here.

"Maximum number of colleges which closed down their operations are in Andhra Pradesh," Mantha said, adding that 41 technical colleges across the country wound up their operations last year.

When asked about the reason behind the closure of such a large number of management colleges, Mantha said that at present, only those management schools or colleges were being preferred that had  tie-ups with the industry to provide
practical training to students to improve their skills.

Currently, there are over 11,000 technical colleges including 3,700 polytechnic, 3,900 engineering and 3,800 management schools, operating in the country and bulk of these colleges are located in the southern part of the country.

Asked about number of new colleges coming up this year, Mantha said AICTE has received requests for opening up of 315 colleges so far, out of which 174 are polytechnic ones.

According to an estimate, about 25 lakh passouts from all ITIs and polytechnic colleges in the country while the industry requirement is of about 1.3 crore.

"AICTE has even launched a National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) to attract more students and provide them skill in different industry verticals to make them employable," Mantha said.

A significant part of this framework would be that students would be given multi-level entry and exit options to enable them to seek employment after Class XII, he added.

Meanwhile, Haryana government said it has fixed a target of providing skill development to about 1.8 lakh students under National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) during the current fiscal.

This was revealed by Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Dhanpat Singh while addressing a workshop on NVEQF jointly organised by AICTE and Haryana Technical Education Department here.

Tentative requirement of funds for the current fiscal is about Rs 50 crore, Singh said.

The targeted set under NVEQF during the year 2013-14 and 2014-15 would be 2.5 lakh and 3.3 lakh students, respectively. A sum of about Rs 135 crore would be required for 2013-14, whereas Rs 350 crore would be needed for 2014-15 for the implementation of NVEQF.

A state agency on the lines of National Skill Development Council would be set up in the state, he said. 

Engineering colleges told to set up vocational skill centres

Chandigarh: The Punjab government directed engineering colleges in the state to set up vocational skill development centres.

A decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a high-level meeting on "Vocational Training and Skill development - Vision Punjab".

Badal has asked the engineering colleges to establish at least one such centre in their respective institute to impart quality training to uneducated, drop outs and unemployed youth especially with rural background, an official release said.

The Chief Minister also approved a proposal mooted by the CII for establishing skill training 'Gurkuls' in industrial towns to impart quality vocational training to the youth.

PU offers Manmohan Singh chair to Cambridge Professor

Chandigarh: Panjab University (PU) has offered the Dr Manmohan Singh chair to its alumnus Ajit Singh, professor emeritus at University of Cambridge.

Singh, who is a lifetime fellow at Queen's College in Cambridge, has been recommended by a committee set up by the varsity Vice-chancellor under the chairmanship of R P Bhambah, a university spokesman said here today.

The recommendation was “unanimously” accepted during the PU syndicate meeting held recently, he said.

The chair was instituted in 2009 in the department of economics and the PU had so far not found a suitable candidate for it.

Earlier, PU had extended the same offer to Nobel Prize winner and renowned economist Amartya Sen, who did not accept the offer, the spokesman said.

Singh had passed out of the PU and started teaching economics at Cambridge in 1965, the spokesman said.

Panjab University has rows of students giving identical answers

CHANDIGARH: The examination branch of Panjab University has found a few instances in which students sitting in an entire row have copied from one another and have identical answers. Close to three-four such instances of entire rows of under-graduate students taking the final year exam this year having identical answer sheets have been detected by the evaluators during checking which have now been forwarded to the unfair means case (UMC) committee of PU. 

"The cases are being looked into by the UMC committee and the members will decide what to do next. The committee will check to what extent has there been imitation in these answer sheets," said A K Bhandari, PU controller of examination (CoE). 

Evaluators, on condition of anonymity stated that eight to nine students in a row of final year arts students have been found to have same answers, copied word by word in the final year exam held this year. 

"Such instances where the entire row of students have similar answer sheets are rare, " said an evaluator from a local government college on condition of anonymity. 

"There was an instance in which an entire row of students of second year commerce had the same answer, sub-heads, points and graphics for a particular answer," adds another evaluator.

Jagpal Singh, a PU senator and member of UMC committee said that the evaluation has just begun for the last semester exams of under-grad classes and such cases are unusual and rare. 

Chandigarh: ICSE board to declare results tomorrow

CHANDIGARH: Putting an end to anxious moments of Chandigarh students waiting for Class X and XII ICSE results, the official website of the ICSE on Wednesday posted that results for ICSE-2012 and ISC-2012 will be declared on Saturday May 19 at 3pm. 

The result can be checked on the internet on www.cisce.indiaresults.com, www.cisce.ndtv.com, www.cisce.examresults.net, www.cisce.myschool.in.com, www.cisce.topperlearning.com, www.cisce.timesofindia.com, www.cisce.navbharattimes.com. 

There are five ICSE schools in the city -- St Kabir School in Sector 26, Strawberry Field World School in Sector 26, St Xavier's School in Sector 44, St Stephen School in Sector 45 and Tender Heart School in Sector 33. St Xavier's School in Mohali and Panchkula, Saupins in Panchkula and Yadvindra Public School in Mohali are other ICSE schools of the Tricity. 

The procedure for checking the result has been kept user friendly. All that students need to do is to log on the website and enter their roll numbers. All principals have also been provided with personalized passwords to view school results.The results will also be available through SMS. For this students need to send SMS to numbers 51818, 56263, 58888, 5676750, 56388 and 54242. 

The news has created a buzz and has increased the anxiety of students. Ayesha Kapoor, who appeared in Class X exams, said, "I have been eagerly awaiting result. However, I was relaxed but as I got to know about the exact date I'm scared." 

"I have my fingers crossed. I was very confused during exams and I really hope it doesn't reflect in my marks," said Riya Sharma, who appeared in Class XII non medical stream exams recently. 

IIIT to come up at Kapurthala

Chandigarh: Punjab government gave the nod for setting up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Kapurthala, an official spokesperson said here.
      
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said Prakash Singh Badal also gave clearance for 50 acres of land for setting up this institute at a suitable site in or around Kapurthala.
 
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh apprised the CM about the upcoming IIIT which would be developed in Public-private partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 128 crore with the state government sharing 35 per cent of the cost, Centre 50 per cent and 15 per cent by a private player from the industry. 

Punjab Deputy CM proposes vocational training for jail inmates

Chandigarh: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal proposed vocational training for jail inmates in soft skills to enable them to find jobs after completion of their sentence.
 
In a meeting of jail department held here, Badal said it was the duty of the government to ensure that the inmates were given a kind of vocational training that helps them in finding rightful jobs.
 
He said the old kind of trades like farming, wood work, mason work in which jail inmates were being trained were not helpful in the post-reform era and it was imperative that they were provided training in computers,  software development, accountancy package that would make them employable in the new industry.
 
At another meeting, Badal said Chhatbir Zoological Park in district Ajitgarh (Mohali) with a population of 1,200 animals of 90 rare species could be a major centre of attraction if properly marketed and promoted.
 
Badal suggested that Punjab could also go in for night safari on the pattern of Jurong night safari in Singapore, an official spokesman said. 

Haryana Govt honours four eminent scientists

Chandigarh: Four eminent scientists were conferred with Haryana Vigyan Ratna and Yuva Vigyan Ratna Awards by the state government for their outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology.
 
The scientists conferred with Haryana Vigyan Ratna for the the year 2010-11 by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were Dr Harsh Mohan, head of the department of pathology, Government Medical College Hospital, Chandigarh and Dr S K S Marya, Vice-Chairman, Max Healthcare, New Delhi. 
 
The Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratna awards were presented to Dr Gitanjali Yadav and Dr Mukesh Jain, both Staff Scientists at National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. 
 
Vigyan Ratna Award carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh, a citation and a trophy while the Yuva Vigyan Ratna carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a citation and a trophy. 
 
Speaking at the award ceremony held here, the Chief Minister said the benefits of lab research are not reaching to people engaged in farming activities and efforts should be made to ensure their availability to farmers.
 
He said food security is a challenge and scientists should work on how to maximize the yield with minimum use of land and water. 

Punjab government to provide free text books to SC/ST students

CHANDIGARH: In an effort to impart quality education to the marginalised, the Punjab government today said it would spend Rs 30 crore to provide free text books to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students in the state. 

"We are committed to quality education. The state government will provide free text books to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students studying from class one to class eight in the state," Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka said here. 

He said that required infrastructure would also be provided to all the schools. 

"The Punjab government is celebrating this year as education year so that the state, which is currently at number three in terms of education in the country, could be number one," Maluka added. 

Thapar University restores 50 pc quota for Punjab students

Chandigarh: After intervention of the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the deemed Thapar University, Patiala, decided to restore the 50 per cent territorial quota for the students of the state.
     
Badal had asked the university authorities to reconsider their decision.
     
J S Neerav, vice chairman of the varsity's Governing Board and Abhijit Mukherjee, Director of the Thapar University, conveyed their decision by handing over their letter to S S Channy, Principal Secretary Technical  Education and Industrial Training, Punjab.
     
The University Board in its 100th meeting held on February 24 this year to consider the admissions to first year of under graduate programme made the seats available to all the citizens of India maintaining that the admissions would be opened equally to all citizens of the country and 50 per cent territorial quota for the students of Punjab would not be available any longer.
     
Badal had also taken up the matter with Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal while highlighting the claim of the State of Punjab and its students saying that the university has come up in the present shape and stature solely on account of the state help which was there by way of giving them 250 acre of land and also grant-in-aid till the year 2001.
     
The university in its letter maintained that "in deference to the wishes of the state government and without going into the legality of the same, the varsity agrees not to implement its decision taken over two months back."
     
The issue will once again be taken up in the next meeting of the Board after mutual discussions in accordance with the rules of the university, the letter mentioned, according to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office here.
     
Both the Centre and the varsity management were conveyed the rights of the state for this deemed University and "advised as well as directed them not to deny the rights of the Punjab students to have the opportunity for the furtherance of their education in one of the State promoted deemed University of excellence", the spokesperson said.
     
The deemed Thapar University, Patiala started functioning way back in 1956.
     
The spokesperson said 250 acres of land was given to the university and financial assistance of Rs 30 lakhs was also given by the then state government. 

HC restrains schools from enhancing fee

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high ourt issued directions that no school would enhance the school fee in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, without the consent of the education boards to which the schools are affiliated.
   
The bench has also issued directions to ensure that no books other than NCERT were prescribed in Punjab schools.    

The bench, comprising Justice S K Mittal and Justice T P S  Mann, has held that schools must take the education boards into confidence before any fee hike.
   
The bench also directed that schools would submit their profit and loss statement for the past five years to the Central Board of Secondary Education, ICSE or Punjab School Education Board whereever they were affiliated with.
   
The bench also issued directions that no CBSE-affiliated school would prescribe the books published by those other than NCERT.
   
The directions were issued on three PILs filed on similar issues. One of the petitions had been filed by 10 students from Malerkotla while two other petitioners are city-based NGOs Anti Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell and All India Crime Preventing Society.
   
The petitioners referred to the directions of the Supreme Court in Modern School vs Union of India, which stated that each school would maintain the account on the principles of non business organisation.

Citing the example of fee hike by a school Sita Grammar School in Malerkotla, the petitioner stated that in academic session 2009, the school was charging fee that included admission fee of Rs 3500, annual charges of Rs 4500 besides quarterly tuition fee, computer fee, science fee, conveyance fee and building fund.
   
The fee was subsequently hiked in the following years. In academic year starting in 2012, the fee had been hiked to annual charges eleven thousand rupees, development fee two thousand rupees besides other fee charged at quarterly basis.
   
The petitioner said that as per calculation, in 2010, total amount of 1.08 crores rupees had been collected by the school as annual charges while the same was 1.87 crore rupees for the session in 2011.
   
This is besides the students being forced to buy stationary and school dress from school shops.
   
The bench has issued directions to Punjab School Education Board, ICSE and CBSE to file affidavit about the schools in their jurisdiction and also have all the schools file profit and loss account for the past five  years.
   
The bench also asked the boards to file a response as to how it was being ensured that teachers were getting salaries as per norms and the Right to Education Act was being followed by these schools. 

PTU launches course in translation, interpretation

Chandigarh: Considering the growing demand for translation and language related services in India and abroad, the Punjab Technical University launched two new courses in technical translation and interpretation.

It is for the first time that such type of courses have been launched in the country, an official spokesman said here.

The two new courses being offered by the varsity are Post Graduate Diploma and Bsc in technical translation and interpretation.

These courses will commence from coming July at the Mohali campus. 

Thapar university can't deny quota to Punjab students: Sukhbir

Chandigarh: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal took strong exception to the move of Thapar University amending rules to deny admission quota to students of Punjab in the engineering and polytechnic college without prior permission from the state government.
     
In a statement here, the Deputy Chief Minister said Thapar University at Patiala, earlier known as Thapar Technology Campus, was allotted 250 acres prime land at a highly concessional rate by the Punjab Government in 1956 with a singular aim of providing quality technical education to the students of the state.
     
He said that now Thapar University cannot be allowed to tweak rules, regulations and guidelines denying the legitimate admission quota without taking the permission of the state government.
     
He said that The Punjab Government would not allow Thapar University to deviate from the basic philosophy of educating students of Punjab for which the state government had alloted land to it.
    
Seeking a complete report from the Technical Education Department regarding Thapar University, the Deputy Chief Minister issued directions that the department take all preventive, corrective, legislative and legal measures to stop Thapar University from denying legitimate admission quota to state students.
    
He also said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has already sought intervention of Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on the issue and both of them would soon call on Sibal to put a stop to the "mischief" of Thapar University.
    
Thapar university is a deemed university controlled by the Centre under the UGC guidelines.
    
The university officials had recently maintained that it was not opposed to denying quota to students from Punjab. 

Haryana's Mewat district to have a separate teaching cadre

Chandigarh: Haryana's Mewat district will now have a separate teaching cadre and 5,000 posts of teachers have been sanctioned for this area to improve the level of education.
 
The state government has already issued a notification in this regard, Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed said here.
 
To promote Urdu language, he said it will be taught in all the primary schools of the district, having a sizeable Muslim population, and 544 posts of Urdu teachers have been sanctioned. 

Sibal's intervention sought on reservation in University

Chandigarh: Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab CM asked Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to immediately issue directions to the UGC and the deemed Thapar University at Patiala to maintain territorial quota of 50 per cent in Punjab.

The Chief Minister, in a letter to Sibal, sought his intervention to redress "this genuine grievance" of the state to ensure that no step-motherly treatment was meted out to Punjab students by the Thapar University or UGC.
    
Badal told Sibal that the Deemed Thapar University in Patiala had recently taken a decision in their meeting of Board of Governors (BOGs) on February 24, 2012, citing UGC guidelines, to de-reserve 50 per cent of the seats for the undergraduate courses which were being filled earlier out of  the quota meant for students belonging to Punjab.
    
He mentioned that the Thapar Institute, which had come up as an Institute of Excellence, was solely on account of contributions made by the state and thereafter giving them grant-in-aid and the other financial assistance under various government schemes.
    
The Deemed Thapar University is not in the present shape of its own but definitely due to the active financial and in support of the state government.
    
Badal said that with this decision of the BOGs, the interests of the students of Punjab have been "sacrificed  /compromised" which in no way was acceptable to the state.
   
The Chief Minister also pointed out that the other deemed universities like NIT, Jalandhar, and Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, are having 50 per cent seats reserved as state quota under the umbrella of UGC only.
  
In the city of Chandigarh, the Punjab Engineering College, also a deemed university, was also having 50 per cent territorial quota for students of Chandigarh city alone, said Badal adding the decision of the BOGs is without any intimation, consent or approval of Punjab. 

PM to inaugurate IICA building in Gurgaon on Apr 13

Chandigarh: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Gurgaon on April 13 where he will inaugurate newly-constructed building of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA).
     
Union Minister for Corporate Affairs M Veerappa Moily reviewed the arrangements for the Prime Minister's visit to the industrial model township, Manesar in district Gurgaon. 
     
Moily went round the IICA building and inspected all those places in the institute which the Prime Minister would visit.
     
Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union Ministers would participate in this programme.
     
The foundation stone of this institute was laid by the then Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Prem Chand Gupta in November, 2008, the release said.
     
The IICA has been developed over an area of 14 acres provided by the state government and it will tie up with reputed international institutions like George Washington University and IIT, Kharagpur, for imparting training.
     
The five trustees of the institute would be leading corporators of the country. 

Make NCC training mandatory in schools: Haryana Governor

Chandigarh: NCC training should be made compulsory for both boys and girls studying in all the schools and colleges of Haryana, Governor Jagganath Pahadia said.

The training should be made compulsory for students to infuse in them a sense of patriotism and discipline, he said.
    
"National Cadet Corps is a key organisation of youth and has played a significant role in protecting the country," Pahadia said.
    
It has rendered its services for various social causes, the Governor said.
    
Pahadia was speaking at a function here organised to honour the 34 NCC cadets of Haryana, who had participated in the Republic Day Parade.
    
State Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also present at the function.
    
While describing NCC as the third line to safeguard the country, Hooda said, "they not only protect the country but also spread awareness in the society by launching campaigns against various social evils."
    
Referring to many other countries where the military training was compulsory for students, Pahadia suggested Hooda to take up the issue with Centre for its consideration.
    
He also suggested that initially NCC training should be made mandatory in some schools and colleges in the state, he said, according to an official release.
    
Pahadia called upon the cadets to educate people in protecting environment.
    
The Governor also honoured 34 cadets and announced to give a cash prize of Rs 5,100 to each of them.      

Additional Director General, NCC, Major General P S Mander highlighted various activities of NCC in the state.
    
He said that during the previous one year, six cadets had joined as officers in defence forces. 

Punjab to fill all vacancies of teachers

Chandigarh: The Punjab government Monday announced that all vacancies of school and college teachers will be filled soon.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal gave approval to fill all vacant posts to ensure smooth functioning of the educational institutions, a government spokesman said here.

At a meeting of education department officers here Monday, Badal directed the officers to immediately initiate the process of recruitment. 

He also asked officials to look into the viability of establishing the state level teachers recruitment board. Some 10,000-12,000 teachers retire every year. 

He said recruitment and promotions of teachers should be done regularly so that no vacancy is kept pending. 

Badal declared that 2012 and 2013 would be exclusively devoted to the overall development of government schools and higher institutions.

He also asked officials to fill all the vacant posts of principals in the colleges at the earliest to ensure their proper functioning.      

ETT supplementary exam postponed

Chandigarh: Supplementary examination of physical education paper for third semester of 2009-11 and 2010-12 session of Elementary Teachers Training, that was scheduled for March 29, has been postponed to April 17, officials said here.
 
The practical examination of ETT for 2011-13 session has also been postponed to March 29, they said.