Chandigarh, June 18
Chaos marked the opening day of the “refined admission procedure” to class XI at various government senior secondary schools in the city. The four schools--- GMSSS-33, GMSSS-33, GMSSS-40 and GMSSS, Manimajra--- selected for the sale of prospectus that began today were unprepared for the rush.

There was an acute shortage of prospectus forms and hundreds of students along with their parents waited throughout the day to buy the forms but had to go back empty-handed.

The schools only had English language forms to sell today as a result those who had come to buy the Hindi and Punjabi prospectus had to go back.

The day began with students queuing up outside the schools and by afternoon, the rush had swelled so much that the administration called for the police to control the crowds.

There was also no arrangement for drinking water and the school authorities had not even bothered to make adequate seating arrangements.

Parents raised slogans against the administration with the school authorities expressing their helplessness. A parent said the administration had not informed them that Punjabi and Hindi forms would not be available today. “We had been told that we should come tomorrow for the Hindi forms and the day after for the Punjabi ones but going by what happened today, we have no faith in the administration,” S.K. Sharma, another parent said.

“Here the aim of the school is to earn money and sell as many forms as is possible. They treated us like cattle,” said another parent Vijay Bakshi.

As many as 10,000 students are expected to take admission to class XI. While the administration had made arrangements for the printing of over 15,000 forms only 2,000 were made available at these centres today.

The sale of the forms will continue till July 28 — the last date for submission of forms.

Chandigarh, June 18
The Chandigarh education department has directed principals of various government schools to analyse the results of Classes X and XII and pull up the teachers in general and those on deputation in particular, if they have produced below-average results.

DPI (S) S.K. Setia, through DEO, today issued a notice in this regard and gave three days to the principals to inform about such teachers.

The department is trying to find out schools where there are more than five compartments or failures in one subject. The teachers, whose results have been 20 per cent below the average, would be asked to explain the reasons for the failures in their subjects.

DPI (S), confirming the move, said, “It has been observed that there are a number of compartment and failure cases in various schools. The teachers, whose results have been below average, would be called upon to explain their inability to maintain the pass percentage.”

Telling further, the DPI said, “The principals of the schools have been directed to analyse the results for both the classes and inform within three days the names of the teachers, particularly those on deputation. Our endeavour is to find out the reason for poor results and the responsible teachers will be taken to task.”

Chandigarh, June 18
His first brush with acting was at the tiny age of seven when he acted in a television play. Since then, the love and passion for theatre hasn’t died, with Ravi Dubey having performed in more than 30 productions across India. The notable ones include “Sammy”, “A Macbeth” (Charles Marowitz’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth), and “Strivings” by Peter Shaffer.

And perhaps the highest point came when he shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Silsilay’ as his turbaned friend.

In town to announce Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) for the third consecutive year, Dubey said, “The awards are constituted by the Mahindra Group to recognise, showcase and reward the best works in theatre being produced in India.”

A founder-member of Theatre Action Group (TAG) along with Barry John in the early 70s, Ravi travels back in time when “it was difficult for theatre artists to meet their ends”. “ During my college days at St Stephen’s, we would struggle for resources, theatre never had money. These awards are, in fact, a matrimony of theatre with corporate world,” he claims.

Ravi says, in the inaugural year META selected English plays from the four metros of the country. To extend the reach, this time entries are also invited from Chandigarh, Cochin, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vishakhapatnam, Lucknow, Baroda, Guhawati besides Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai. Last year the jury included theatre luminaries Shyamanand Jalan, Shabana Azmi, Shashi Kapoor, Ila Arun, M. S. Sathyu, M. K. Raina and Zafar Hai.

“Our country has a wealth of untapped talent; the only thing that Indian theatre lacks at the moment is production values. We are far behind in terms of technology,” remarked Ravi.

The awards follow a transparent procedure. “An eminent jury of theatre personalities selects 10 best entries, which are then staged in Delhi. The idea is to bring national recognition to theatre. A theatre academy for excellence where the nuances of theatre from sound to set, acting to production will be taught, is also on the cards.

The academy will facilitate exchange programmes with well-known theatre institutes across the globe. “In this era of globalisation, why should theatre be far behind? It’s time our country wakes up to globalising theatre.”