The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

CAMPUS
Everything is green in Delhi University garden
Gaurav Choudhury

Come winter and the Delhi University campus turns into a floral enchantment with seasonal flowers carpeting the grounds in attractive hues. This time round too, with the nip in the air, one can visualise the flamboyant patterns that will come to characterise the campus in the weeks to come.

The special attraction, of course in the Jawahar Gulab Vatika, with exotic assortment of roses giving a rich tint to the campus. No wonder then, the university gardens provide space to birds and bees (metaphorically) and prospective poets as well.

One student, an aspiring poet, sitting in the sun between an elongated array of decades’ old palm trees, summed up by saying that it (the gardens) reminds him of Wordsworth.

“It reminds me of Daffodils, even though there are no daffodils around here. The breathtaking view of hundreds of marigold, tossing their heads in sprightly dance, with the colourful chrysanthemums, dahlias, phloxes, and hollyhocks, have inspired me to write several poems,” said Sandip, a final year student of English literature.

The campuses of different colleges are no different. With lawns mowed to resemble a billiards top table, the college authorities are arranging for a university flower show which marks the culmination of seasonal floral delight before the petals start withering down.

Seminar for air hostesses

The Delhi-based Air Hostess Academy in association with Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) is organising a seminar on various opportunities and prospects in the airlines and hotel industry on November 29.

DUSU president Neetu Verma said that such seminars should be held more often to act as torchlight, guiding the students not only with a bright future but also with job opportunities.

According to Sapna Gupta, Director of Air Hostess Academy, the airlines and hotel industry is an up and coming sector, “which has a lot of scope and opportunities to offer. To get into this industry, a candidate needs to polish up his personality, general knowledge and communication skills. Besides, all these, a career-based knowledge for his overall development,” the AHA Director said.

The seminar will focus on strategic planning and marketing, besides outlining the other details of the career.

SFI attacks ‘censorship’

The Students Federation of India (SFI) has strongly condemned the “unwarranted and authoritarian dictate” of Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi to censor text books.

“The censorship is quite arbitrary in nature and reminds us of the period of Emergency when authoritarianism took away all democratic spaces from our social life,” the SFI said in a statement, adding that “removing portions of any book without prior consultation is an insult to the author”.

The National Policy on Education (NPE), formulated in 1986 and the amendments made in 1992, was discussed with representatives of national political parties, with the education ministers of all states and UTs, in Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) and was adopted after being endorsed by both Houses of Parliament, the SFI said.

“But the new curriculum frameworks or the censorship and introduction of obscurantist courses like astrology, Vedic arithmetic, etc have not been introduced by a process of consensus building,” the student body said.

“All this shows Mr Joshi in a poor light as undemocratic and authoritarian in attitude. His Ministry is working independent of the Cabinet and without any respect and accountability to Parliament and our democratic tradition,” the SFI said.

Management workshop

Management Grid, the students’ body of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi, organised its sixth national seminar on “Emerging Business Scenario: Competitive Strategies”, on November 24 on the institute premises.

The seminar was organised in the light of current business environment in India arising due to various incidents occurring all over the globe.

The panel of speakers included names of eminent names such as Mr James Abraham, Vice-President, Boston Consulting Group, Mr Bhushan Bhatt, Vice-President, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited, Mr Satish Menon, Assistant V P –Head Mobile Internet, Citibank, among others.

Aptech literacy campaign

Global information technology training major, Aptech Limited, has claimed to have attained the 300,000-student mark in its National Literacy Drive programme under its specially designed programme “Vidya”.

Vidya, a multilingual course, launched in January 1999, was targeted towards working executives, government employees, self-employed professionals, traders, housewives, framers and students to create a broad base of competent computer users in all walks of life at the village, taluka, district and city level, spokesperson of the institute said.

NIIT awards on anniversary Day

As part of its 20th Foundation Day celebrations, IT training pioneer, NIIT Limited is rewarding the computer career aspirants. Beginning November 26, students can earn NIIT’s 20th Anniversary Awards for its Futurz and CATS programmes based on an entrance test and the interview.

A limited number of “20 Anniversary Awards” will be given to bright students, who will be able to avail themselves of a three month fee waiver (for a six-month programme).

In addition, they will enrol for the NIIT programmes by paying a first instalment of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, a spokesperson of the institute said.

Poor join rally for education rights
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, November 28-
Shattering the myth that the economically weaker sections of the society do not care about education, thousands of people from 11 states in the country gathered on the Ram Lila Grounds to show their concern over some of the features of the 93rd Amendment Bill.

Parents of first generation learners, most of them daily wagers, assembled in the Capital to take part in the rally organised by the National Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education (NAFRE). Representatives of political parties and state alliances attended the day-long event. Children also performed a play titled, ‘Woh Khamosh Kyo Hai,’ and presented songs with a message. “We have representatives from Uttar Pradesh., Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Orissa, Maharashtra and Delhi. These people have come to Delhi to express their concern and anger over the non-implementation of the positive changes in the Bill that we have been asking for. These people had to forgo their wages and mobilise funds to get here, which is difficult for them, yet they are here. They want education for their children”, said Pervin Verma of CRY.

It is alleged that the 93rd Amendment Bill contains certain provisions that will amount to the withdrawal of children’s right to education. “The state has always washed its hands off the responsibility to provide quality education and hardly any facilities are made available to the children, particularly in the rural areas. If these vices continue, education will not help the cause of people. And education is vital to survive. It is high time the government wakes up from the slumber it has slipped into”, pointed out Ms. Sarla, a schoolteacher from Delhi. There have been protests of late demanding that education should be made free for all children unto 18 years and there should be sufficient financial allocation for equitable and quality education.