Chandigarh, March 9
A lapse on part of a school head, now deputy DEO of Chandigarh education department, six years ago has come back to haunt a teacher, who is at the receiving end now.

Devinder Singh, a work experience (plumbing) contractual teacher with Government Senior Secondary School-38 (West), is now living with the fear of losing his job anytime. For, the education department had issued a notification on October 26 to terminate his services on the ground that he did not possess adequate qualification for the post.

Devinder (35), a matriculate holding an ITI diploma, was appointed work experience (plumbing) teacher on contract at Government Senior Secondary School-38 (West) on July 22, 2000, after getting information through the local employment exchange.

Defying the regulations of the education department, the then school head, Rajesh Minhas, now deputy DEO and principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School-18, appointed him after taking his test and interview.

After six years, the department served him a termination notice. Devinder moved the court (CAT) seeking justice and relief from the mental trauma he had to undergo.

Coming to his aid, the court put a stay on the department’s orders and fixed the date of hearing as April 12.

He questioned the department’s ignorance on the issue, when he had submitted his joining report with it and had been drawing salary all these years.

“I fail to understand why the department is questioning my appointment after six years. Where is my fault? The head certainly did sent the requisition to the employment exchange as matriculate with ITI diploma and I fulfilled that requirement. I went through interview and test, and was selected among 20 other candidates. Now, after six years the department is bent upon ruining my career on the ground that I do not fulfil the eligibility criteria,” rued Devinder.

He said: “The department could have taken up the issue earlier. Now I am older and will find it hard to find another job.”

When Rajesh Minhas was contacted, she chose to reserve her comments on the issue.

“The matter in question happened a long time back. I do not remember anything. The matter is in court, so I cannot comment.”

DPI (S) Ashwani Kumar admitted to lapse on part of the then school head. The department had issued an explanation notice to her, he added.

“The issue came to light when we enquired about under-qualified teachers in schools under the directions of CAT. Such disciplinary proceedings are time-consuming.”

On detecting the case, the department asked the DEO to instruct the principal to terminate Devinder’s services with immediate effect.

It also served an explanation letter in this regard to Rajesh Minhas on December 13, stating that her unauthorised action had violated the instructions, putting the department in an awkward position.

The department had asked Minhas to submit her reply within 10 days to justify the reasons for appointing Devinder. Minhas has so far not given her reply.

Chandigarh, March 9
As many as 150 students of nursery and LKG classes organised a “marketing day” at Saupin’s School, Sector 32, today.

The event was a part of their playway method project work wherein tiny tots played the role of shopkeepers.

They showed their aptitude for business while dealing with parents and guests, who visited their shops as customers.

The shops put up were of fruits and vegetables, garments, grocery, crockery, furniture, phone, books, toys and pharmacy.

The event used the concept of buying and selling to create awareness about different merchandise joints amongst students.

Chandigarh, March 9
Tiny tots of Golden Jubilee Nursery School, Chandi Mandir, celebrated its Annual Day on the school premises in the military station today.

The students presented vandana, nursery rhymes, a Punjabi dance and a dance item on environment. A variety of superbly choreographed music and dance sequences held the audience spellbound. The programme concluded with a patriotic song by children.

Western Command Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) president Mohini Daljeet Singh lauded the efforts put in by the children, their parents, the staff and the principal of the school.

From the next academic session commencing April this year, pre-primary education in all nursery schools being run by the Army all over the country would be standardised. A new syllabus has been charted out for over 200 AWWA nursery schools.

Principal of the school Sunaina Bhatnagar read out the annual report of the school. This was followed by the prize distribution for the meritorious students in various competitions held during the academic year.

Chandigarh, March 9
Two second-year B.Tech students - Sumanyu Gupta and Shrey - of Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology, Derra Bassi, have developed a robot, based on synchronised navigation and processing (SNAP) principle.

The robot captures images, and processes these as per commands. It sees, senses, records and judges the right and the shortest path from a given arena.

An elated Sumanyu said, “This robot has a sense of colour and can tell you about any colour placed in front of it, and this is the real base to find the right path. We prepared this robot for the Techfest-IIT Mumbai’s Annual International Science and Technology festival held at Mumbai Our creation was appreciated over there because this was the only project which had used C-sharp as the image processing tool.”

They informed that the robot has a ‘smart eye’. “The 2-mega pixel camera installed in it can capture a finer and wider look of a picture or a path. Then this digital picture is fed to the DSP processor or a PC. — TNS

Chandigarh, March 9
Ranjan De has always lived by his rules. From walking out of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, over a scuffle with a professor to quitting uninspiring jobs, he has always sprung surprises.

And today, he sprung another one when he trained a group of volunteers in the use of puppets as a tool for informal education. The system works simply. Finger puppets, glove puppets, cup puppets and shadow puppets are first prepared during workshops conducted over a course of few days. Then these are used to provide hands-on information to students, who don’t know anything about the joys of education.

“The present system is designed to kill creativity. It interrupts thought and prevents students from enjoying education. Real education is one that thrills you and the one that makes you a better person,” said Ranjan, who studied five-year diploma in graphic design at NID before leaving, following a showdown with his teacher.

From here, he went on to do odd jobs. “But I did not stay long enough in any job. I was not enjoying my work. That was when I decided to do something with children. I have been associated with Dakshina Chitra, the Living Museum in Chennai, where I help educators learn unconventional teaching tools,” he said.

Through puppets made with discarded materials like paper cups, cardboards, thermocol and other such stuff, Ranjan tells interesting tales that are as good as lessons. “But they don’t sound academic. The use of puppet theatre is all about rediscovering the joys of education,” he says.

In Chandigarh, he is holding the puppet theatre workshops for the Centre for Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA). He is also helping volunteers develop their own puppet theatres that can be folded and easily transported.

Chandigarh, March 9
AS Chahal was today elected president of the Chandigarh District Bar Association. He defeated his nearest rival, SK Sood, by a margin of 238 votes.

Chahal will occupy the coveted post for the second time. The other lawyers declared elected are Shankar Gupta (vice-president), Kailash Chander (secretary), Harminder Kaur (joint secretary) and Maneesh Joshi (treasurer).

Sources said most winning candidates had the backing of the Chahal group.

Talking to The Tribune, Chahal said he would work to restore the faith of litigants in the judicial system. He would work in coordination with the judiciary to reduce the pendency of cases. Constructing chambers for lawyers at the proposed district complex in Sector 43 was also his priority.

According to the returning officer, a total of 1,058 votes were polled during the day-long polling. The names of the executive members would be declared tomorrow. The announcement of the results was received with the beating of drums.

Panchkula, March 9
A dance bonanza “Ek Shaam Holi Ke Naam”, organised by the Haryana Arts Council in association with the department of public relations and cultural affairs, Haryana, at the Yavanika open air theatre Panchkula here was a big draw.

The three-hour programme brought alive the grandeur of classical Kathak as well as the richness, rustic vigour and abiding grace of the Haryanvi folklore, which captivated the audience.

The programme commenced with an invocatory dance “Aradhana” in calm contemplation, as accomplished Kathak dancers Shruti Sukla. Jyotsana Bannerji and Sahlini Sharma from Shree Ram Kala Bharti, New Delhi, took the centrestage.

The Kathak number “Shahi Mehfil”, led by Shruti Shukla, captured the magnificence of the Mughal splendour as the dancers delineated various moods suggestive of the diverse perspectives of royal life of nawabs of Lucknow.

The highlight of the show remained a pure nrittya by Tatiana Nazarova, a Russian disciple of guru Munna Shukla. She executed “toide tukde”, “chakrdhar parans” and “Tehais” with precision of laya, tal and nimble footwork.

After “Mathura Patkam” on the life of Lord Krishna, they celebrated the spirit of Holi in a specially crafted choreography by Guru Shukla.

Dharamvir, chief parliamentary secretary, was the chief guest.