Chandigarh, August 28
The Government College for Girls, Sector 42, has received the mandatory recognition for starting a one-year BPEd course from the National Council for Teachers Education - a statuary body of the Government of India (Northern Regional Committee, Jaipur). The college is the first government institution in North India to start this course exclusively for girl students.

“Arrangements for admission to BPEd are being made. We already have the staff required to start the course,” said Santosh Kalra, principal of the college. The college would begin its admission process in a day or two.

ASSEMBLY: The first morning assembly of the session was organised at Government College of Education, Sector 20, by the students of the first tutorial group. The main objective of organising the college assembly, which is a weekly feature, is to strengthen traditional values amongst students and teachers. The students highlighted the importance of the sacred bond of Raksha Bandhan, an eternal bond of love, caring and sharing. The historical perspective of Teej celebrations and its importance in the lives of Indian womenfolk was also discussed. Principal Dr Harsh Batra congratulated the group on presenting a well-prepared assembly.

Mohali
TOPPED: Harnoor Kaur, a second-semester student of Rayat and Bahra College of Law, has made the region proud by bagging the top position in a law examination conducted by Punjabi University, Patiala, earlier this year. Gurvinder Singh Bahra, vice-chairman of the Rayat and Bahra Group of Institutes, honoured Harnoor at a function.

Mohali, August 28
Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon took over as the new chairman of the Punjab School Education Board here today. Dr Dhillon was serving as a professor in the department of history at the Punjabi University Patiala and was also holding the post of dean, Students Welfare.

The Chairman’s name was cleared by the Punjab Chief Minister Parkah Singh Badal yesterday. Punjab minister for education Dr Upinderjit Kaur was present during the taking over ceremony held this morning.

Talking to mediapersons, Dr Dhillon said he was committed to improve the standard of school education in Punjab. He added that a committee of experts in the field of school education would be constituted to advise the board on various academic issues.

Pointing out that it was too early to comment on the appointment of the controller of examination in the board Dr Dhillon said all problems will be resolved in the coming days.

Panchkula, August 28
She is helping create milestones in the lives of little children who would not have seen the light of education otherwise. For Santosh Bhandari, principal, DAV School, Sector 8, imparting education to the downtrodden of society is a mission and it’s only partly begun with Jagriti, a school for the under-privileged.

And, for this zeal, she has been awarded the National Award for Teachers, to be conferred upon her by the President of India, Pratibha Patil, at a function in New Delhi on Teachers’ Day this year. The honour carries a citation and a cash award of Rs 15, 000.

“I am elated with the news of the award. I believe that it is recognition of my labour of love for my students. They are all a family for me and this award goes out to them. My endeavour all along has been to make education and learning relevant to life. Our effort at school has been to focus on all round development of the child instead of plain academics,” she said.

Bhandari maintains that recognition by way of awards motivates one to improve upon previous performances and set new benchmarks. “I never compare my school, my results, and my performance with others. We believe in inculcating the habit of self-competition where external agents have no role to play. That, I think, is the secret of our success,” she says.

Given the paradigm shift in methodology of teaching, Bhandari says the biggest challenge lies in keeping abreast with the changes while retaining its relevance to everyday life. “We want our children to be learners. High scores are welcome but these should not be at the cost of learning since education entails a lot more than bookish knowledge,” she emphasises.

She has also been instrumental in starting a school for the under-privileged absolutely free of cost. Called Jagriti, the school has been running for seven years now. “I personally think that we must make quality education available to not only those who can pay but also those who can’t pay. Jagriti is a step in that direction and I am happy to see that these children, with the right training and teaching, are blooming at our school,” she stated.

Mohali, August 28
A blood donation camp was organised by Blood Bank Society, Chandigarh in association with Command Hospital Chandimandir at Army Institute of Law, here yesterday. The camp was inaugurated by H.S. Mattewal Advocate General, Punjab. Mattewal spoke to the students and advised them to start their days with prayers and inculcate humane values along with dedication and hard work. Principal Dr Anjana Kakar informed that Col R.K. Nayar registrar, five faculty members and 140 students donated blood. She further apprised that blood donation is an annual feature for this Institution. Mattewal appreciated the spirit of students while going around the campus and praised the college administration for organising blood donation camp.

Also, Ankush Chaudhary a 2nd year student had the opportunity to become a live donor and donate blood for an accident victim. The blood bank society, Sector 37, Chandigarh organised refreshments for the students. The camp was visited by senior Army officers of the Western Command and Command Hospital, Chandimandir.

Chandigarh, August 28
It is a joyous occasion for six visually impaired children of the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26. Karamjit Kaur, Ram Dai, Mamta Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Vikram Singh and Ram Saran are excited to be part of a contingent of sports-persons to be honoured by the UT Education Department on the occasion of National Sports Day tomorrow at a function to be held at the Government Museum and Art Gallery-10.

These six ‘special children” made their presence felt at the National Sports Meet for the Blind held at Delhi in 2006.

Ram Saran (17), one of the medallists, grabbed a bronze medal by throwing a 10-pound iron ball to a distance of 8.5 meters. “I was taking part in this competition for the first time. A bronze medal is not bad for the first try,” an elated Ram said.

Karamjit Kaur (18) won three medals - one silver in the 400m race and two bronze in the 200m and 100m events. Due to lack of practice on the synthetic track, she could not win the race. Chandigarh has no synthetic track as yet.

Ram Dehi, a Class VII student and captain of the school band, bagged silver in the 400m race and a bronze in the 200m race event.

“The competition was really tough as the other participants were much older to me. But I remembered Milkha Singh’s advice - ‘Set your goal and infuse your energy to the fullest to achieve it’. This helped me a lot,” said Rakesh Kumar (16), who clinched silver in the 5,000m race.

Last year’s 800m gold medallist Mamta Sharma (17) clinched gold again in the 400m race in this tournament. A die-hard fan of playback singer Himesh Reshammiya.

Talking about the procedure adopted for these ‘special children’, D.P. Pathak, the mobility instructor-cum-coach said, “These children are accompanied by runners during the events. The participants’ and runners’ hands are tied together with a rope, thus enabling them to be acquainted with the direction of the track. We practise very hard in the Sector 7 Sports complex and emphasise mostly on fitness.” 

Chandigarh, August 28
The two-day cultural bonanza titled “Yatra- An Enlightened Journey” concluded at the Tagore theatre, here today.

The cultural event, organised by IMAGES, a student body organisation of Punjab Engineering College, in collaboration with Chandigarh tourism, was inaugurated by Vivek Atrey, director tourism.

A large number of students from 14 schools of the tricity participated in competitions like group folk dances, music, debate, quiz, clay modelling, caption writing and case studies.

“The organisation aims at providing a platform for young school students to showcase their potential,” said Sahil Dhar Hakim, the president of the organisation.