Sonepat, February 2
The two-day national seminar on ‘Prevailing Scenario of English—A Realistic Appraisall’ concluded in the Government College at Gohana town, 35 km from here late last evening.
The seminar was organised for the first time by the Department of English, Government College, Gohana, under the aegis of Directorate of Higher Education, Haryana, and it was attended by at least 160 English scholars and eminent educationists from all over the country. This seminar proved a success and Mr Desh Deepak, Principal of the college earned kudos from the speakers.
Inaugurating the seminar, Mr Dhanpat Singh, Higher Education Commissioner, Haryana, said that English has become an important language in today’s time as it is used around the world. This language, he said, can help the youths get success in the time of information technology (IT).
He hoped that this seminar is going to be a promising venture which will provide a platform for intellectual discussions, exchange of ideas and scholarships for the participants. The interaction, he said, will be beneficial for the formulation of future strategies and methods of teaching.
The Commissioner praised the efforts of the Department of English and the Principal of the Government College, Gohana, for organising such a seminar on English and appealed to all other colleges to follow suit.
Prof. Rukmin Bhaya Nair, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), IIT Delhi, in her keynote address, stressed the need for making English the language of the masses and asked the people to read and write English if they want to compete with other countries of the world.
She said that the use of English should be the same in the primary, middle, high and higher secondary levels for the benefit of the students.
Prof K Venkata Reddy of S K University Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), in his presidential address, stressed the relevance of holding such seminars in a rural college like Gohana. Rural India is real India, he said and pointed out that the English language should be made simple.
The first plenary lecture was delivered by Dr K K Kathuria, a professor, Department of English in Kurukshetra University.
He said it is ironical that even though English enjoys a high status in the wake of globalisation, its teaching and learning in the educational institutes is rather inadequate and unproductive.
Prof. K Venkata Reddy, Prof. S K Sharma, Prof. S M Gupta, Prof. G L Narang and Prof. R K Dhawan also spoke in this session.
Speaking at the valedictory function of the seminar, Mr P K Das, Divisional Commissioner, Hissar and the Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, highlighted the importance of English and said that the rural students should be encouraged to use the language openly without hesitation.
He stressed the need of making English simple for the masses.
At least 60 research papers were presented by the delegates in the two-day seminar held in three different venues. The general theme of the research papers was mainly to discuss the status of English in the country.
Effective methods of teaching English in the present scenario were also discussed. The relevance of the prescribed syllabi in B A (Pass) and B A (Hons) was extensively discussed.
A book “Flowering of Indian Drama” was released by Prof S K Sharma on the occasion. This book is edited by Prof K Venkata Reddy and Dr R K Dhawan. Prof S K Sharma called it a step in the right direction. This book is written by Dr Vinod Bala Sharma.
The seminar ended with a resolve to encourage the students to use English at all levels.
Principal Desh Deepak lauded the concerted efforts of the lecturers Miss Sangeeta Sapra, Ms Neerja Sangwan, Dr D C Spah, and Pawan Kumar for their cooperation in making the seminar a success.
