Ludhiana September 3
The Academic Council of Punjab Agricultural University today decided to set up a panel to examine the feasibility of reviving the postgraduate course in agriculture journalism.

The council met here today under the chairmanship of VC M.S. Kang and approved “demerger” of departments merged earlier.

PAU had stopped the MSc course in agricultural journalism a number of year ago.The university now offers a diploma in agricultural journalism. The panel to examine the feasibility of postgraduation in agri journalism is to be headed by the Dean.

Other members are heads of the department of journalism and mass communication, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and the Punjabi University Patiala, and P.P.S. Gill, member of the State Information Commission.

The university has set up an independent department of chemistry. Besides, the department of home science extension will now be with the college of home sciences and not the directorate of extension.

Similarly, the departments of food technology and food processing and engineering will be with the college of agricultural engineering.

The department of food and nutrition goes back to the college of home sciences. Department of agro-forestry and agro-meteorology have been separated. Departments of floriculture and landscaping will again be independent. These were with the department of vegetables.

However, the departments of plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology would continue to work as a single department.

The decision on setting up the centre for business studies in the university has been postponed for the time-being.

Ludhiana, September 3
Pankaj Bhambri, lecturer (IT) and programme coordinator (NSS Unit) of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, has been honoured with the ‘Best Teacher Award’ today on the eve of the Teachers Day celebrations. The event was organised by the Ludhiana Citizen Health Council at the Christian Medical College and Hospital. The school, college and university teachers, who had done commendable work in promoting healthy environment, were awarded on the occasion. As many as 174 teachers from the district responded with the recommendation of their faculty members but only 17 teachers were selected for the prestigious award.

Freshers Day at GNIMT: The campus of Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT) was dazzling with colour and festivity as the Freshers’ Day for post-graduate students titled “Waves- a real inspiration” was celebrated with great enthusiasm. The students of GNIMT organised various cultural activities, comprising of welcome dance, comedy show and group dance items to welcome the freshers. The function was organised under the aegis of ISTE Students’ Chapter of GNIMT. The highlights of the day were Miss Fresher and Mr Fresher contest. Jasleen was declared Miss Fresher while Honey Sachdev won the title of Mr Fresher. Seep and Chetanvir were declared first runners-up in the girls and boys category respectively. Gurleen and Avneet Singh were second runners-up. Dr H.S.Singha, the director of GNIMT, gave away the prizes to the winners.

Seminar at GGNIMT: “Create, share and manage knowledge for success” was the theme of the seminar organised at GGNIMT here today. The resource person was Dr Prem Kumar, president, Punjab Commerce and Management Association, and principal of Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management. Dr Prem explained the abstractions associated in the area of knowledge management by sharing anecdotes, real life examples and corporate success stories. He advised students to capitalise on the opportunities present in today’s world where anyone could create success if one had an idea, knowledge and ability to convert the idea into an acceptable concept.

He also explained the knowledge management process and urged the students to be prepared for acquiring and imbibing knowledge by reading, increasing awareness and developing a knowledge seeking attitude. 

Ludhiana, September 3
As you enter the classroom of Nirdosh, a school for mentally challenged children, students wish you cheerily "Good Morning, Madam. They have become alert and behaving in a socially acceptable manner. But it was not always so.

Ankur with IQ quotient of 50 was a violent child before he joined Nirdosh, more or less all children studying in the school suffered from behavioural problems before joining Nirdosh. Love and great patience shown by principal Surat Singh and teachers Gita, Baby, Jyoti Anand, Kamal Sharma, and Harpreet Kaur have brightened lives of 55 students attending Nirdosh.

Surat Singh says with great sincerity, "I see in these children an image of God. They are so pure with no malice, no greed, no jealousy and no selfishness. For us these children of lesser God are a blessing to teach. The teachers have to show infinite patience as children studying here have mild, moderate and severe retardation. What a normal child can learn in a very short time, these children learn after a repetition of may be 80 or 100 times, specially children with IQ quotient between 20 to 30. For children with severe retardation, to put paste on the tooth brush is also a difficult chore and similarly to get ready by themselves is a big relief for parents."

Without teachers with exceptional loving heart and a gift of patience, life of these students would have been a drab. Harpreet teaching in Nirdosh for 12 years says, "At times we get tired of repeating the same action, but when I look at those eyes full of anxiety as they know that they have done something wrong, my frustration vanishes. My love returns for them and we feel great joy when they are able to fit in the society like Rimpi. She was employed in a beauty parlour and was applying mehndi, but for some mistake was fired. Society has to be more tolerant of these children."

Kamal Sharma and Jyoti Anand teaching for more than seven years said, "When we joined, we had no training to handle these children. Our patience and genuine love helped us to imbibe good social behaviour in them. We teach them to make candles, wrapping paper, greeting cards, painted diyas, floating candle flowers, which they would be selling before Diwali. They sold Rakhis and earrings, which they made out of beads. This gives them confidence and our constant interaction with parents help these children in imbibing new skills."

These teachers have abundant love for their students and have brought smiles and hope in their lives and eased the responsibilities of parents.