EDUCATION

150 science models exhibited
Our Correspondent

City under-represented in PU Senate
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, October 30
With just 10 members from Ludhiana in the 90-member Panjab University Senate, the students and teachers of the local affiliated colleges feel that they are under-represented this time.

“Since 32 of the total 105 affiliated colleges are located in the district, the Senate should have been represented by at least 30 per cent members from the city. Number of students and staff is quite large but with less Senate members from the district, it will be difficult for them to highlight their problems to the PU authorities,” they said.

Among the 36 nominated members, the city has just one member, Lala Lajpat Rai, MP. Among the 15-member graduates’ constituency, Prof Rajinder Bhandari, commerce lecturer from Arya College, and Prof Mukesh Arora, Hindi lecturer from SCD Government College, are the two representatives. Prof Satish Sharma from Arya College and Prof Amarjit Singh Dua from the Government College for Women are the two members of the eight-member teachers’ constituency. Among the three Senators from colleges of education, Prof N.S. Sangha from the Guru Hargobind Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sudhar, is the only member.

The only constituency which has got enough representation in the PU Senate is that of the principals which includes four of the total eight members; Principal Harmit Kaur from Ramgarhia Girls’ College, Principal B.D. Budhiraja from Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, Principal Tarsem Bahia from A.S. College, Khanna, and Principal Jaswant Singh from Guru Nanak National College, Doraha.

However, even the principals feel that since they have a very small vote bank comprising only of the district colleges, they do not get to know the problems of students and teachers from other colleges. Ms Harmit Kaur, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune said with better representation in the graduates’ and teachers’ constituency from the district, several problems being faced by the students and teachers could have been solved by the Senate.

Discussing the reasons for less representation in the Senate, Mr Budhiraja said there were just three local contestants for the graduates’ constituency and two were successful.

He said not many local graduates take part in the PU Senate elections as it requires much political and financial support.

Commenting upon the situation, Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, President, Punjab and Chandigarh Teachers’ Union, said due to inadequate representation from the district in the Senate, several cases of victimisation of teachers were coming up.

He said there were no such cases in Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University because both of them have their regional centres. He said due to less representation, the long-pending demands of the district students and teachers to establish a regional centre and a law college in the city were not being fulfilled.

He blamed the university for its step-motherly treatment towards the local colleges which were providing maximum revenue to the university.

School declamation contest held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 30
The Medical Aid and Anti-Drug Abuse Committee, a wing of the Ludhiana Citizens Health Council, organised an inter-school declamation contest on “drug abuse: Its effects on health and prevention” at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, here today.

Students from Classes IX to XII drawn from 16 schools participated in the contest. The first prize was bagged by Varun Garg from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar. Gurleen from Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, got the second prize. The third prize went to Ravinder Kaur from Guru Nanak International Public School. Mr Ajay Jain, secretary of the Medical Aid and Anti-Drug Abuse Committee, gave away the prizes to the students.