Gandhi fuels agri, industry debate

Kolkata, December 7
GOVERNOR GOPAL Krishna Gandhi might have fuelled yet another spate of controversy. Gandhi, who has been critical of the Left Front government’s policy of forcible land acquisition for industrialisation, refuted the pro-industry belief of the state government on Friday.
What could be his most scathing criticism of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, he denied the prevalent thought that industry not agriculture holds the key to the nation’s future. He was talking at a seminar organised by the Indian Society for Soil Sciences at the Indian Glass and Ceramics Research Institute.
“We all know Ramkrishna Paramhansa said ‘taka mati, mati taka’ (wealth is synonymous to land and vice versa). However, we should not misinterpret this and regard soil as fixed deposit, which could be enchased for the use of capital. I am all for industry and capital but industry and capital should not look readily upon soil as an encashable asset, to be put into the profit graph of private capital,” he stated.

According to sources, Gandhi said while soil was very important, the government needed to understand its significance and then decide whether to set up industry or give it away for agricultural purpose. Maintaining his tone, the Governor further said the deciding factor behind converting agricultural land for industrial purposes should be left on the fertility of the soil and not on margin of profit.
“Our natural balance of land should be maintained. Due to topographical reason, North Bengal is prone to landslides. In such a scenario, the plains are important for agricultural,” he said. Gandhi pointed out that it was as bad as trying to irrigate the deserts of Rajasthan for cultivation.
Sources informed that Gandhi also questioned SEZs (Special Economic Zones) and felt that these should not be allowed to come up just anywhere.
Although no media persons were invited for the seminar, contents of the Governor’s speech trickled out. Sources believe the speech is likely to bite the Left Front government hard enough and Gandhi would continue to be an eye sore, both for the administration and CPI(M).
Although the Governor has been critical of the steps taken by the sate government and its industrial policies ever since forcible acquisition of land at Singur, Gandhi gave vent to his angst and desperation in a statement following the police firing on peaceful demonstrators at Nandigram on March 14. Although he did not criticise the state government directly, he has often implied that he did not have faith in Bhattacharjee and his government. Recently, he further proved his lack of confidence in the government and Bhattacharjee when he met Marxist patriarch and former chief minister Jyoti Basu, requesting him to appeal for peace at Nandigram.
letters@hindusantimes.com

State aspirants in a fix over admission in BESU

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 7
Students are confused about the admission process with Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur scheduled to start operating as an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) from the 2008 academic session.
According to talks between the Centre and the state government, 50 per cent seats would be reserved for students from Bengal. But the confusion amongst students from the state is whether admission will be through the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) or the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
Neither the university nor the higher education department is fully aware of the arrangement. As per the agreement with the state, BESU was to admit students under the state quota through WBJEE, while the remaining were supposed to be filled through AIEEE.
However, Arjun Singh, minister of human resource development had informed BESU vice-chancellor N.R. Banerjea and a team of MPs and BESU officials on Thursday that he would be sending a letter to state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb next week stating that BESU would work as an IIEST from the 2008-2009 academic session. He also informed that admission would be through AIEEE, including students from the state.
Afterwards, a BESU official had informed Hindustan Times from Delhi that, “For the time being it seems that MHRD wants admission to be through AIEEE. But we would be sure about it only after the official letter is sent.”
But if BESU has to pull out from WBJEE, the structure as well as the address of the JEE board will have to be changed. Till date the institute has acted as the anchor of the WBJEE board. According to practice, the BESU vice-chancellor is the chairman of WBJEE and its office is also located on BESU campus.
The WBJEE office may have to be shifted to Jadavpur University’s (JU) Salt Lake campus and a new chairman appointed. “We really do not know if such a situation will at all arise. Till date, institutions have joined the WBJEE board but no one has left. Only after the letter arrives from the Central government will the situation become clear,” said Bidyut Bhattacharya, member secretary of JEE board.
Currently the WBJEE application bulletin states that 50 per cent of BESU’s total 360 seats will be filled up through WBJEE and that aspirants will have to submit their domicile certificate with the application form. If BESU has to pull out of WBJEE, the board will put up a notice in this regard in the newspapers and inform candidates, informed Bhattacharya.
This means that it would be wise for candidates wanting admission in BESU in 2008 to fill up both the AIEEE and WBJEE examination forms. The application form for both the exams will be available till January 5, 2008. While WBJEE will be held on April 20, 2008, AIEEE will be held on April 27.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Shibpur BE University at par with IITs

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 6
IT’S OFFICIAL: Bengal Engineering and Science University will become a central university from next year. It will be the first IIEST, or Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, at par with the IITs.
It was perfect birthday gift in the university’s 150th year. The elevation gives BESU a victory in its competition with Jadavpur University, the state’s other pride in terms of engineering education.
The Centre will inform the state of the decision in writing next week. HRD minister Arjun Singh, however, gave the assurance on Thursday, when he met university officials and state MPs in Delhi.
“It was decided to elevate BESU to the status of an Institute of National Importance (INI) from 2008-09. It will be called IIEST-Shibpur,” said V-C N.R. Banerjea.
An amendment to the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Act will introduce a special schedule to enable the elevation. “That doesn’t mean we will become an NIT,” the V-C clarified. Invocation of the NIT Act is a temporary step; an IIEST Act will be set up as more such institutes come up.
The new breed of institutes will serve two purposes. They will not only hold their own against IITs, but also save the government the cost of setting up new IITs. Others lined up for elevation include Osmania University and BHU’s Institute of Technology.
Students will be admitted through an all-India entrance. BESU will reserve half its seats for West Bengal students. Governance will be shared as per an agreement with the state.
Higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury welcomed the elevation. “If the Centre has given the state what it sought, we are happy. I only wonder why they delayed it,” he said.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

FACE-OFF

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 6
THIS TOO had to happen in Kolkata. For over five months, Rabindranath Tagore faced a short of identity crisis at the Calcutta University (CU). Though the problem seemed to have ended after the universities authorities dismantled a poorly made bronze statue of the Nobel laureate, it has undoubtedly sparked a major row.
The statue was installed on the poet’s birthday this year by the Bengali department’s alumni association. But the statue looked more like Jharkhand Mukhti Morcha chief Shibu Soren than Tagore. Placed bang opposite the Darbhanga Building on the varsity’s College Street campus, the statue became a centre of discussion for its shocking looks. Following criticism of the statue from various quarters, the university finally dismantled it on December 1.
But Ashok Kundu, general secretary of CU Bengali Department Alumni Association, is angry for the treatment meted out to the statue. “We are shocked to see that the university removed the statue without even bothering to inform us. Tagore had once taught in this university for two years and there was no statue of his here. The manner in which the statue has been uprooted has been an insult to us and Tagore lovers,” he said.
The alumni association alleged that vice-chancellor Ashish Banerjee had refused to explain the move. Talking to Hindustan Times Banerjee, however, clarified: “Many people had complained that the statue did not look like Tagore. Even many syndicate members held the same opinion, so we have removed it. We will soon replace it with another Tagore’s statue.”
But the alumni association is not ready to buy the argument. They say the statue was crafted based on a photograph of Tagore taken during his Nobel prize felicitation lecture at CU. The picture was clicked by Bourne & Shepherd, one of the oldest photo studios in the world, and was published in the special edition of the Kolkata Gazette. Renowned sculptor Sunil Pal had overseen the casting of the statue.
“There cannot be any controversy with the look of the statue. The fibre cast was shown to the vice-chancellor and only after he gave the green signal the statue was cast in bronze,” said Kundu.
“At statue unveiling ceremony, transport minister Subhash Chakraborty was present along with many other luminaries and university officials. No one had found anything wrong with it,” he added.
On December 9 the alumni association will register its protest at its annual meeting. “We will launch a signature campaign. Luminaries like Sankha Ghosh, Samaresh Mazumdar, Amlan Dutta and Mahasweta Devi will write about it and the booklets will be distributed to the public,” Kundu said.
After the eight-feet tall statue was brought down, university officials have placed flowerpots in the area. The statue was made at a cost of Rs 8 lakh, which included funds from various alumni and government.
“We will approach chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who was a student of Bengali, and governor-chancellor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on the issue,” Kundu added.
Writer Sankhya Ghosh feels hurt by the incident. “I personally do not believe that a personality can be respected through statues. But when one was put up in the university it could not have been done with official nod. If the university has dismantled the statue without informing the people behind it, l feel it is wrong.”
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Drama classes to make IIMC students better managers

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 5
Now Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) students will study dramatics to become better managers. It has been incorporated as part of their optional papaer in strategic management curriculum and the B-school has invited famous theatre group Nandikar to conduct classes.
The Dramatics Society of IIMC has already conducted two workshops with Nandikar for theatre enthusiasts on campus but it was hitherto unrelated to their curriculum. It was during the workshops that Prof Shekhar Chaudhuri, director of IIMC, expressed his desire to incorporate the theatre group’s teaching within the curriculum. “We have invited Nandikar to take two sessions of a module on strategic management. If they accept it then we would like them to take the classes in January next year,” said Bishwatosh Saha, faculty of strategic management at IIMC.
Explaining why a theatre group would be asked to conduct management classes, Saha who is a theatre enthusiast himself, said, “Everything cannot be taught with the help of chalk and paper and this is where Nandikar would come in. Among various other things, the skills of a theatre artiste can help a student become a better negotiator.”
The Nandikar group, which boasts of stalwarts such as Rudraprasad Sengupta, Goutam Halder, Debshanker Halder and Swatilekha Sengupta, is ready to accept the proposal. “Yes, we have received the proposal from IIMC and would definitely accept it. We will send them an official reply accepting the offer soon. There are a lot of things that management students can learn from theatre and we would love to be of help,” said Rudraprasad, the front man of Nandikar.
According to IIMC instructors, management is all about understanding people, getting into their heads and then empathising with them to take both the organisation and the individual forward. Expressed thus, one comes to understand why management can find parallels with theatre. The pauses between sentences when one performs on stage are like conversations one has at the workplace.
Communication, that is so vital to employees, is the fulcrum around which theatre revolves. And it isn’t restricted to the spoken word alone. Its about that stare the actor gives his co-actor, similar to what one would get from his boss, if he were to slack off. It is about articulating oneself to perfection, which would define organisational communication to a tee. And it’s also about being bold or even fearless at times, which is what theatre is all about. More critical aspects of theatre like rhythm of speech and body language would teach students on how it influences little things like even the way we walk. “Theatrical skills can be used in the boardroom as well as in life. If everything goes well, we are planning to make it a permanent fixture in the course,” said Anindya Sen, dean of program and research initiative of IIMC.
Though course details will be finalised once IIMC receives confirmation from Nandikar, topics like voice modulation, situational analysis and conflict negotiation will be part of the class Students would understand their own body and how it works synchronously with the brain, to enhance their power of understanding and react to situations in a better way, a must for managers.
Students are already elated with the prospect of Nandikar conducting classes. “We wanted it to be incorporated in our syllabus and even our director was keen. We are happy that it is finally happening,” said Shipra Sinha, head of the dramatics cell.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Quality control course at ISI

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 2
To celebrate its Platinum Jubilee, the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is introducing a first- of-its-kind course on statistical quality control.
Till date, ISI had largely focused on research and the courses offered were also aimed at producing quality researchers. But for the first time, the institute has come up with a course, which will mainly cater to producing a quality workforce for the industry. “Our objective cannot be only to produce researchers for ourselves. Now science has become globalised and we should reach out to the rest of the world by delivering a workforce in a very important area of statistics, which is quality control. Statistical quality control is equally important for the government as well as industry. The area is vast and manpower is less and the course will look to bridge the gap,” said Sankar K Pal, director of the institute.
Till now, ISI offered a six-month programme, statistical development programme, for MStat students, who were then absorbed by the institute to work on statistical data generated for research. But this new course of two years’ duration will have a wider outlook. Apart from MStat students, those with an MTech degree or MSc in physics or mathematics could also apply. “We are currently designing the course content and will be able to offer the programme from the 2008-09 academic session. Hand-picked students from India and aboard will be able to enrol in the programme,” said Pal.
The institute already offers PhD programmes in statistics, mathematics, quantitative economics and computer science, but for the first time it will offer PhDs in statistical quality control also from the 2008-09 academic session. “We have added statistical quality control to the list because this subject is allied towards engineering and is an emerging area,” the institute director said. Apart from students of statistics and those from basic sciences, engineers will be encouraged to take up the PhD programme.
In an age when basic sciences is a lesser attraction for students compared to engineering, the statistical quality control programme can promise the former a lucrative career. “It is true that students no longer want to plunge into the depths of basic science. But then we cannot blame them, as there are almost no lucrative career options. Hence it is the responsibility of institutions to create interesting courses to make the study of basic sciences more attractive,” added Pal.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Seventh IIM foundation stone to be laid at Shillong

Slug: IIM

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 30

Union Minister of Human Resource Development Arjun Singh will lay the foundation stone of the seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) of the country in Shillong on December 1.
This new IIM will be called Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RG-IIM) and will aim towards imparting quality management education in the North East. It will be the seventh IIM in the country, the other six being at Ahmedabad, Banglore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.
RG-IIM will start admitting students from 2008-2009 academic session with an annual student intake of 60 in the first year, which will be subsequently increased to 120 in the third year and 180 in the sixth year. RG-IIM will offer Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), Fellowship Programme in Management (FPM) and Management Development Programmes (MDPs). Besides these RG-IIM also plans to focus on courses like tourism and hospitality management, Management of tele-services and telemedicine, Management of information systems and technology, Subjects of local relevance such as tourism, horticulture and hydel power.
The Government of Meghalaya has provided land of about 120 acres, free of cost for permanent campus of RGIIM at Shillong. Till the permanent campus is constructed, the Institute will function in the temporary accommodation at Mayurbhanj Palace, which has been renovated by the State Government for the purpose.
Rathindra Nath Datta, Chairman of Pricewaterhouse Cooper India, has been appointed the Chairman of the Board of Governors of RG-IIM, Shillong. While the Director is yet to be appointed, Ashok Kumar Dutta, the current director of Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Kolkata is tipped to be the first Director of RG-IIM, Shillong. The mission of RG-IIM will be to create an institution of excellence having a national character while also considering the needs and aspirations of the people of the region.The faculty of RG-IIM will be at per with the other six IIMs in the country. The central government feels that RG-IIM will be yet another milestone in the development of higher and technical education in the region. And by providing impetus to the progress of this beautiful yet backward region of North East, it would help the government to take a step forward towards fulfilling one of its prime agenda of promoting a balanced development in the country.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Varsity defers semester test

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 30
The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) has deferred its first semester exam until further notice. Though the varsity has not come up with an explanation, sources in the state higher education department pointed out that many private engineering colleges have misused the management quota and admitted students beyond the permissible number. The university however has denied any botch-up.
While the higher education department is likely to ask WBUT vice-chancellor A. R. Thakur the reasons behind deferring the examination, around 25,000 students would be affected. “Due to some unavoidable circumstances we are deferring the exam. Our academic council will convene next week to announce the alternative dates and we will ensure that the exam is conducted at the earliest,” WBUT registrar S.R. Islam said.
This was the first year when the state government had allowed private engineering colleges to admit 10 per cent of its students under management quota directly, instead of taking them through centralised counselling. The rider, however, was that all students taking admission under management quota would have to be in the merit list of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE).
This year, WBJEE had published a merit list of 45,000 students, all of whom were given rank cards. According to WBUT rules, students applying for registration under the university would also have to submit their rank cards as proof that they featured in the WBJEE merit list.
University sources said there were problems over issuing registration numbers to students due to the unavailability of their rank cards. This resulted in rescheduling of the first semester examination, although the third, fifth and seventh exams would be held as per schedule. According to sources, the problem with registration has cropped up in computer science, information technology and electronics.
Earlier this week, the heads of some private engineering colleges informed the higher education department that they had admitted excess students this year. However, they had requested the government to allow these students to sit for the exams. According to the rule, all private engineering colleges in the state have to send a list of the candidates admitted along with their ranks in WBJEE to the West Bengal University of Technology. Now questions are being raised if the varsity failed to check the admission of illegal candidates.
Even the SFI has been stressing on transparency in the admission process, followed by private engineering colleges. “We have repeatedly urged the university to publish the list of candidates admitted in the private engineering colleges along with their ranks in WBJEE. If that is done then the admission process in the management quota would become clear,” SFI state president Sudip Sengupta said.
While there are allegations that some of the private engineering colleges might have admitted students who did not qualify in WBJEE under the management quota, many students have complained to the student body that these colleges have denied 10 percent of its needy students half fee waiver and five percent students full fee waiver as fixed by the state government, while introducing 10 percent management quota.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Pledge to protect our heritage monuments

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 26
From the next year, students of all schools in Kolkata as well as their counterparts all over India will take an oath on November 19 every year against vandalism of monuments and will pledge to protect them.
The Union ministry of culture has decided to involve school students in the campaign against vandalism of monuments and as a part of this initiative the oath taking ceremony will be organised in schools across India every year. A symbolic beginning was made this year itself with schoolchildren in Delhi taking the oath at Red Fort on November 19. World Heritage Week is celebrated from November 19 to 25, every year to create awareness about the rich cultural heritage of the country.
According to the new plan approved by the minister of tourism and culture Ambika Soni, schools will be requested to administer the oath on its premises and organise at least one visit of their students to a heritage monument during World Heritage Week. In addition, schools would also be asked to organise several outreach events like painting contests, debate, essay contests, cultural programmes on the theme of monuments and our heritage. Besides, talks on preservation of monuments will also be held in schools. Archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India will be instructed by the government to render necessary help to the schools in arranging this oath taking ceremony and also organising student visits to heritage monuments every year.
The state school education minister Partha De has welcomed this initiative. “Though my department has not received any such circular yet, we welcome this step and appreciate the measure. The students need to know the importance of our monuments and this initiative would be a step towards ensuring that,” he said.
The aim of the oath would be to make students realise that scribbling on a national monument is a bad practice and needs to be stopped. It would also prepare them to take all necessary steps to protect the monuments by understanding its heritage value. However, some teachers feel it would not make students realise the importance of a monument. “It is a good gesture but students would consider it routine work and would forget about it. On the contrary, if it is made a part of the curriculum and thus a part of their everyday life it would help. If we can make children realise the importance of monuments, then ten years from now when they grow up they would not vandalise them,” said Dipak Das, general secretary of West Bengal Government School Teachers’ Association.
Some teachers, though, are hopeful that the exercise would help students to understand the importance of monuments. “They are the future guardians of our heritage. It is a wonderful idea and though it may be a very small gesture, somewhere deep down they will carry this information all their life and would never get involved in vandalism of monuments,” said Sharmila Bose, principal of Birla High School for Girls.
Mou.Chakarborty@hindustantimes.com

The oath:
I will not scribble on, deface or encroach upon any monument
I will respect all monuments, which are a part of my country’s heritage
I will render all possible help to conserve and preserve our heritage

Chief Minister appeals for communal harmony

Mou Chakraborty and Rakeeb Hossain
Kolkata, November 26
The Left Front government in West Bengal won’t tolerate anyone trying to destabilise communal harmony in the state. Such people would be thrown out from the state, said chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee amid controversy and criticism over the West Bengal government’s stand on the Taslima issue and the agitations in Kolkata.
He was attending a function organised by West Bengal Minority Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC) on Monday. “What we just do not want is trouble over religion and caste here. If that happens, it will be dangerous and will spell doom. This is not the culture in West Bengal. We have stayed together hand in hand and will always stay that way. I ask those who want to create a rift between us to get lost,” said Bhattacharjee, sending a strong signal that his government was in no mood to surrender to communal forces.
The chief minister added, “We want equal rights for minorities and our government wants you (read Muslims) to come forward, get educated and do well in life. We love Rabindranath Tagore not because of he was Bramho but because he was great poet. Similarly, we love Nazrul not because he was Muslim, but because of his great poetry.”
Bhattacharhjee, however, accepted that the condition in general for the average Muslim was not good, but attributed the problem to the madrasa education system.
“We do accept what the Sachar Committee report pointed out. It’s true that the minority community is lagging behind in almost all sectors, including getting government jobs. But that’s largely because of the education system, specially the madrasa education system. We think the madrasa education system needs to be modernised,” said Bhattacharjee. In the same breadth, he, however, added that it would be wrong to think that Muslims are completely deprived in this state.
Referring to the Sachar Committee report, Bhattacharhjee said what the committee members have not noticed is that, in West Bengal, over 83 per cent land is with poor farmers and many of them are Muslims. Moreover, he pointed out that many among the 66,000 primary schoolteachers in the state are Muslims. The same can be said about jobs in municipalities, the health sector and the police, he said.
“But it’s also true that their numbers are not very high. I can see many Muslim IAS and WBCS officers, but in the lower ranks, the numbers are much lower. And the major reason is that the not-so-well-off people of the Muslim community send their kids to madrasas where the education system is not that developed. We are working towards the development and modernisation of madrasas because along with religion, today’s youth needs to learn English and computers too,” added Bhattacharjee, while giving out educational loans to 274 needy but meritorious Muslim students at the function.
He said that in fiscal 2007-08, WBMDFC would give education loan worth Rs 82 crore of which the first installment of Rs 1.75 crore was doled out on Monday. He, however, was not in favour of quota or reservation for Muslims as he felt the fruits of reservation would go to only the creamy layer of the community as has happened with SC/ ST reservation.
letters@hinduatantimes.com

Girls outdo boys, overall CU pass rate dips

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 26
After besting boys in the higher secondary examination, girls have now outperformed boys in Calcutta University’s (CU) BA and BSc exams. But the bad news is that the varsity’s experiment in conducting honours’ exam in Part I itself has not yielded fruitful results.
For the first time in the history of the university, girls have outdone boys in all streams. While the percentage of girls who passed was about 5 to 10 per cent more than boys (see box), in the Part I BSc general course, the difference was almost 20 per cent. “This could be because girls are more studious than boys,” said Onkar Sadhan Adhikari, controller of exam.
While 92.01 per cent students passed the BA Part I honours exam in 2006, this year the figure has gone down to 75.69 per cent. The result is worse in the BSC honours Part I examination. While 83.91 per cent students qualified for honours in 2006, this year only 69.5 per cent have qualified.
This is the second year running that CU is conducting its exams under the 1+1+1 system. In 2006, the university conducted its Part I exam under the new system minus the honours papers. But from this year, students had to take two honours’ papers in the Part I exam. A section of the university feels it is this inclusion of honours exams in Part I, which is responsible for poor results.
Suranjan Das, pro vice-chancellor (academic) did not agree with this line of reasoning. “All universities in the country that follow the 1+1+1 pattern take honours paper exams in its first year. Apart from achieving parity at the national level, the primary reason for taking the honours exams at the end of first year was to make students serious about their attendance and also make them start studying in advance for their honours’ papers.”
However, the university is considering the sharp drop in the pass rate very seriously and would discuss the matter in its under-graduate council meeting. “We will have to find out why this has happened. As of now, we cannot pinpoint at any specific problem area. But we would look into various aspects like examination structure, question pattern, syllabus and the teaching-learning system followed currently. After discussing the matter in our under graduate council we would make the necessary reforms,” Das said.
Some teachers claimed that since the new Part I examination included two honours papers, the pressure proved to be too much on students. Also, after passing the higher secondary exam many students do not have the maturity to grasp honours’ courses in the very first year. Das, however, also disagreed on this account. “While introducing two honours’ papers in Part I exam, the board of studies for each subject upgraded the syllabus so that it could be taught within an year. However, in case of some subjects we may have to do a rethink.”
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com
Exam funda
No of candidates: 1.58 lakh
Last date of submission of review forms: December 17
Comparative pass percentages:
Total Pass % Girls Pass % Boys Pass %
Part I (under 1+1+1 system)
BA honours 75.69 78.69 70.4
BA general 59.2 65.15 52.88
B.Sc honours 69.5 75 64.15
B.Sc general 46.88 60.2 41.57

Part II (under 1+1+1 system)
BA honours 85.24 87.04 81.56
BA general 77.66 80.38 74.26
B.Sc honours 80.52 84.07 76.26
B.Sc general 79.79 86.1 75.82

Rumours force early weekend in schools

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 23

A day of unfounded rumours saw some schools on A.J.C. Bose Road and Park Circus closing early.
Located on Ripon Street and A.J. C. Bose Road Crossing, St Augustine’s Day School declared half day for the morning section students. Though attendance for the day section was 70 per cent, authorities allowed the students to go home from 2 pm, provided their guardians came to collect them. “All kinds of rumour like the possibility of fresh troubles and possibility of another curfew were flying around. Even parents got panicky and wanted to take their child home. Hence we decided to let the children off at 2 pm,” said C. R. Casper, rector and principal.
Heavy police and military presence in the area lead many to believe that there might be a curfew. Shritama Maity rushed to A. H. Academy at Elliot Road where her daughter studies in Class V. “I heard from my neighbours army and police have cordoned off the area and there might be a curfew. So I reached school to collect my child and found that a half-day has been declared,” Maity said. Probir Boshak, working in an office at Entally heard rumours of another rally. “Any procession brings back memories of Wednesday,” he said.
Mahadevi Birla Girls High School too fell a victim of the rumours. “We heard that some sort of rally could be organised and since our school is located in a very sensitive area we declared an early holiday,” said Malini Bhagat, principal. The school would be hosting Bombay Rockers on Sunday and are looking forward to it.
“God knows who are spreading these rumours. The area was peaceful but due to the rumourmongers we did not get much customer in the morning and afternoon,” said Karim Khan, owner of a cloth shop at Park Circus market.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Forced holiday for many schools near Ground Zero

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 22

Following Wednesday’s trouble, many schools on A.J.C. Bose Road and in the Park Circus area remained closed on Thursday. Some schools in nearby areas were open but registered poor attendance.
Pratt Memorial and St James School, both on A.J.C. Bose Road, opened in the morning but closed after roll call because of almost nil attendance. From a combined strength of 2,500, only 100 had turned up at St James and 200 girl students at Pratt Memorial.
Abhirup Murarka, the father of a Class IV student at St James, said, “Yesterday’s violence took place right in front of my son’s school. Their school bus was damaged and the area was under curfew till morning. In such a tense situation we decided against sending him to school.”
Nearby, The Frank Anthony Public School was open but attendance was low and they cancelled tests scheduled for the day. Parents of Talha Khan, a Class VI student, did not send him to school on Thursday as a car was torched in front of the school the day before. They are still undecided on whether to send him on Friday.
Other schools like St. Augustine’s Day School, Auxilium Convent, Ashok Hall, Loyala High and Mahadevi Birla Girls High School did not take any chance and declared a holiday.
“Over 2,500 students were stuck inside the school yesterday. This is a girl’s school; we have to ensure the safety of students as well as teachers. Many parents requested us not to open the school today. Just closing the main gate was no safeguard from a mob, so we asked the girls not to come,” said Malini Bhagat, principal of Mahadevi Birla Girls High School.
Both La Martiniere for Girls and Boys saw poor attendance. Only 60 per cent students turned up at Birla High School on Moira Street. Birla High School for Boys cancelled scheduled class tests. Birla School for Girls principal Sharmila Bose said, “The girls were stuck for a long time yesterday. They were tense. We knew attendance would be low today.”
Attendance was also low at the only college in the troubled zone, Lady Brabourne. “Less than half the students turned up although they had internal exams today. We have rescheduled the exams,” said principal Sanghamitra Mukherjee. On Wednesday a mob had tried to gatecrash into the college. The police had to be called in and the students left with police escort.
Assembly of God’s Church on Mullick Bazar-Park Street crossing saw a better attendance in the day session because of pre-board exams.
DPS Mega City declared a holiday, as it could not have operated buses through the curfew area in the morning. South Points Junior Section, too, did not ply bus number 6 in the morning section.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Session change plan delayed

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 22
The school education minister Partha De’s desire to change the current academic session from May-April to January-December may not happen soon.
According to sources, differences of opinion between the minister and CPI(M)s education cell has not been thrashed out and the matter has been referred to the party’s state secretariat.
The education cell headed by former school education minister Kanti Biswas felt that if the session begins from January students would not stand to benefit. The main argument forwarded by De is that the proposed January-December session would add more days to the academic calendar. Teachers would thus have more time to complete the syllabus.
According to the circular issued by the state all government schools and aided institutions should have 200 teaching days in an academic session. But the present April-May session sees most schools managing 132 to 140 teaching days. This is mainly because the new session begins on May 1, which is a holiday and after 12 days of class the one-month summer vacation begins.
Teachers feel that if students get so many holidays at the beginning of the academic session his zeal for studying suffers. With most of the districts affected by flood during the rainy season classes and studies take a back seat. After few more days of class the Durga Puja vacation begins which is followed by half-yearly exams and pre test. If the session begins in January the school education department feels that most of the schools will be able to conduct classes for 175 to 200 days.
The state had a January-December academic session but it changed to April-May in he late 80’s. Despite De and several non-CPI(M) teachers organisations agreeing to the change, both Biswas and the representatives from ABTA, ABPTA and SFI in the core committee of CPI(M)s education cell too could not agree with the minister.
“We do not think this to be the right way to solve the problem,” said a member of the education cell on condition of anonymity. It may be noted that the five-member expert committee formed by the government for this purpose too could not unanimously agree to De’s view.
The committee is yet to present its report to the government. With the kind of opinion divide between De and his party colleagues it seems that the government will have to take a longer time to take a final decision.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Shaken and Stirred

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 21
As parts of the city burned school students bore the brunt of violence. The problem worsened as many schools gave over between 11.30 am 1.30 pm when the trouble was at its peak in Park Circus connector, Beniapukur area, Ripon Street, A. J. C Bose Road and Moulali.
Many students were stuck in their institutions for over 5 hours. The horror for many students began with a school bus being attacked outside St James’ School on A.J.C. Bose Road. With broken bottles and tube lights littering the road, neighbouring Pratt Memorial students stayed put inside their institution. Students of St Augustine’s Day School located on A.J.C. Bose Road and Rippon Street crossing suffered from headaches thanks to tear gas shells lobbed by the police to prevent the mob from entering the school premises.
“This is for the first time I am witnessing such pandemonium in the heart of the city. The children were scared and with the violence right outside we decided not to release them unless parents arrived,” said T. Ireland, principal of St. James’. Students of La Martiniere for Boys and Girls got stranded.
One of the worst affected was the students of Mahadevi Birla Girls High School located near Park Circus connector. The authorities shut the main gate and teachers stood behind as shields. “This is a girls school and we have to ensure the safety of students and teachers. The children were hungry but we were helpless. We will keep our school closed on Thursday,” said Malini Bhagat, vice-principal. Anticipating trouble and due to a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am many schools with early morning sessions have already declared a holiday on November 22.
South Point Junior section called back its bus number 6, which had to go through Park Circus area. “There were 40 students inside the bus and we called it back,” said Madhu Kohli, principal of the junior section.
Students of Lady Brabourne College also were targeted with stones being thrown inside. The mob also tried to break down the gate, which was closed. “Fortunately they could not enter but they had trouble in mind. I called up the police,” said principal Sanghamitra Mukherjee. Students with stepped out with police escort after the army was deployed in the area.
St. Xavier’s College did not allow any of its students to leave. Harried parents also were a tense lot with many phoning up schools. Chitto De came from his office at Salt Lake to collect his son from St. James’. When he could not be spotted, De broke down. School authorities explained his son was released as his wife had asked their neighbour to collect him. “I stay in Park Circus and since the network was jammed I could not contact my wife,” De said.
Rikdha Murarka, who was stuck with her daughter inside Pratt Memorial for three hours lashed out at the police. “This is nothing but police inaction. If a violent mob throws stones and bottles the police is expected to control it. The mob was not armed,” she said.
Even schools and colleges away from the troubled zone did not take any chance. Birla High, Ashok Hall, Laxmipat Singhania Academy, Modern High, Loreto House, Heritage School, DPS decided not to release students unless parents come to collect them. The school buses were also held back.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

School with a difference in the city

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 21

Kolkata opened its doors to the award-winning Fas TracKids, a US franchise for children’s enrichment programmes. The Colorado based institute started operations on Wednesday with 20 students.
A unique training programme for kids within the age group of six months and eight years Fas TracKids ensures that the child is prepared for school and life. “It is definitely not a substitute for traditional and pre-school. We offer a programme, with a proven track record. The objective is to ensure that there is no books or conventional learning method. “The child should not feel that he has to study. We stress on the fun factor,” said Vasudha Bagri, co-director of Fas TracKids in Kolkata.
The course offered aims at enhancing communication skill among children through application and transfer of knowledge, promoting leadership skills and problem solving. Fas Trackids will help children to cultivate their personality, increase concentration level and set goal for school.
The institution is offering three programmes for students. Fas TrackMusic is a programme for children between the age of 6 months and 8 years. The duration of the programme is one year and includes 12 different CD based lessons to foster self-esteem, social and language skills and stimulates learning. The course includes story telling, plays, singing and use of different props.
For children aged between three to five years, Fas TracTots programme is available. Kids between five and eight can enrol for Fas TracKids. The duration of both is of two years and covers twelve subjects, astronomy, biology, creative literature, creativity, communication, earth sciences, economics, goals and life sciences, mathematics, natural science, speech drama and art and technology.
All the programmes are delivered through DVDs and are videotaped. The child is asked to perform in front of the camera and is shown to their parents. This increases children’s confidence and public speaking skill.
Fas TracKids has 200 centres in 40 countries. There are seven centres in India including Chennai, Cochin, Baroda, Mumbai and Kolkata is the first centre in eastern India. “The units all over the world follow the same programme set in Colorado. If a parent relocates to another country, his or her children can continue their education at Fas TracKids because all units follow the same programme,” said Vishal Shroff, co-director of the Kolkata venture.
Fas TracKids would maintain 8:1 teachers students ratio. Experts from US will train local teachers. Classes will be held one day every week for two hours. Parents will have the flexibility to choose timings according to their convenience.
Registration fee for the programme is Rs 1500. The monthly tuition fee for the music programme is Rs 800, for the Tots programme is Rs 1000 and for the kids programme is Rs. 1250. “There are no examinations but teachers would evaluate the children in class based on their response to the curriculum. Parent teacher meeting would be held once a month,” said Bagri.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Say no to dowry for schoolteachers job

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 20
The state school education department has accepted Nisha Sharma of Noida (who in 2003 refused to get married as the groom’s family demanded a dowry) as its guiding light. Schoolteachers will have to declare that they would not accept or offer dowry during marriages in the family before they receive their appointment letters.
Following in the footsteps of the Noida girl, the government department has said that teachers of state-aided schools can’t accept or give dowry for their marriage or for that of their children if they wanted the coveted job.
Students who pass the School Service Commission (SSC) examination scheduled for December 23 will have to sign the declaration during interview. The declaration is to say: ‘I will not offer or accept dowry at the time of my wedding or during the wedding of my sons and/or daughters.” With the increasing incidence of dowry harassments coming to the fore, the school education department has taken this decision.
“The dowry system is a menace and teachers are the role models for the next generation. They should take the step and say no to every form of dowry. If a person believes that he or she won’t accept or give dowry, what’s wrong in declaring it?” said school education minister Partha De.
Increasingly, dowry-related incidents of the involvement of schoolteachers too have been cropping up. The school education department has increased teachers’ salary but officials said that has not stopped some teachers from accepting or asking for dowry.
Till now, students taking the SSC examination had to declare that they have no criminal cases against them and they are citizens of India during their personality test. The dowry declaration will be a new inclusion.
“The job of SSC is to recruit teachers through examinations. During the recruitment process, if we get any complaint along with the poof that candidates are involved in a dowry-related matter, the candidate will be disqualified,” said Ranajit Basu, SSC chairman.
If the SSC receives any complaint against any citizen or a report from the police regarding the candidate’s involvement in a dowry-related case he will be disqualified, but the appointing body itself would not take any action. “After recruitment, the state government will take action against the guilty teacher,” said Basu.
State government employees do not have to give a written declaration regarding accepting or giving dowry in his family. But once appointed, they will have to follow the rules, regulation and obligations mentioned in the service book. The service book stops employees from accepting or giving dowry within his family.
“We do not have to sign a declaration. There can be rules but why would you ask some one to sign it? It is insulting. If they don’t have faith in their employee, why employ them in the first place?” said State Government Employees’ Federation general secretary Partha Chatterjee.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Summer recruitment frenzy at IIMC

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 20
The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) remained the most preferred destination amongst recruiters scouting across all the six IIMs and the best B-schools of the country to offer summer placements to students.
IIMC has managed to get its batch of 290 first-year students placed in a record four and half days. The students will work in various companies across the globe for two months between April and June next year as interns and also get paid. “Normally the IIMs need six days to complete its summer placements, but IIMC despite having the biggest batch size across all the IIMs has managed to place all its students in record time,” said Sarfaraz Khimani, external relations secretary of IIMC.
The students have been offered internships in diverse fields such as investment banking, consultancy, general management, private equity, and even economic research and advisory, normally reserved for highly qualified PhDs and economists. The reason behind the record time spent in recruitment is due to the fact that many top recruiters preferred them to students in IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore. The highest paying or slot zero companies recruited more students from IIMC than any other IIM. For example, Merill Lynch recruited 18 students from IIMC, while preferring 13 from IIMA.
According to reports coming in from the other IIMs, other slot zero companies who have recruited the highest number of students from IIMC include Morgan Stanley (11), JP Morgan Chase (13), HSBC Global (6), AT Kearney (5) and Mc Kinsey (8). Then there were firms, like Credit Suisse for example, which chose to recruit exclusively from IIMC, picking up 7 students.
“Summer placements is very important for students. At the end of the two-month internship, if the intern and recruiter like each other, the students get pre-placement offers from the company. It means that some already have jobs in the kitty before campus interviews begins. Last year 70 per cent students got pre-placement offers,” said Khimani.
Explaining why the business school was the fastest to place its students for summer internships, Khimani said, “The quality of students at IIMC this year is very good. This can be pointed out from the fact that out of the 10 prestigious Aditya Birla Scholarships given to students across all six IIMs based on academic record, CAT performance, group discussion and personal interview, five went to IIMC students.”
The highest offer made to a summer intern from IIMC this year is Rs 8.1 lakh. While over 140 students received international offers from slot zero companies in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Dubai and Kuwait, 110 of them accepted the offers. More than 58 per cent of these slot zero offers were made by international investment banks and 37 per cent by international consultancy firms. Last year 93 students from IIMC got slot zero summer placements.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Recruitment frenzy

Company Students recruited
IIM-C IIM-A IIM-B

Merill Lynch 18 13 10
JP Morgan Chase 13 NA 11
Morgan Stanley 11 NA 6
Credit Suisse 7 0 0
HSBC 6 0 5
Rothschild 2 1 2
AT Kearney 5 NA NA
McKinsey 8 NA 4

NA: data not available

From 2008, state to have Santhali medium schools

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 19

From 2008 Academic session West Bengal will have Santhali medium schools at the primary level.
“After the constitution included Santhal in its list of languages there has been a steady interest and so we have decided to offer it as a medium of instruction,” said school education minister Partha De. “If the demand is high we won’t mind having a separate Santhali medium school in the area,” he added.
West Bengal was the first state to recognise Ol Chiki as the official script for Santhali. As per the recommendations made by Himangshu Bimal Mazumdar Commission in 1978, books of all subjects are available in Ol Chiki up to Cass IV. The Ol Chiki books for Class V will be ready before the 2008 academic session begins. “We are discussing ways to facilitate Santhali medium of instruction up to Madhyamik level, but first we have to see that the books are ready,” De said.
Currently over 2,15,000 students in West Midnapore, Bankura, Burdwan and Nadia district have shown interest in studying in Santhali. The state government is conducting a survey to see how many more Santhali parents would want their children to study in the in the new medium. Once it is done by December the state government would decide on how many school would offer dual medium of instruction or will be converted into Santhali medium schools.
The school education ministry will hire experts to translate books to Ol Chiki. “I have made it clear that Santhali will be the medium of instruction but it will be within the periphery of Primary Education Board and Madhyamik Board. The Adivasi Socio- Educational and Cultural Association has also agreed to our initiative,” said De.
The state government has already trained some teachers to teach in Ol Chiki and is ready to recruit more teachers if there is demand. The government has also made it clear that even for Santhali medium schools the teacher recruitment norm will be similar to other institutions. Which means that the schools will have to recruit teachers through Primary School Council where as the secondary schools will recruit teachers through School Service Commission. The school education department would also write to the state higher education department to include Santali and Ol Chiki scripts for method teaching in B.Ed course. The Shantali medium method teaching will be included on primary teachers training programmes too.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

BESU inks pact with Belfast university

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 19
Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur has tied up with Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB) in order to forge a partnership in technical education research.
Both universities will be exploring possibilities of collaborative research and other academic programmes. According to the agreement students from BESU will live in Belfast and study at the Institute of Electronics, Communication and Information Technology (IECIT), a world-class research centre at QUB built at a cost of $ 80 million. QUB is regarded as one of the top 20 research-intensive universities in UK while BESU has already been shortlisted by ministry of human resource development to become an Institute of National Importance.
“We are planning to have three research centres. The first one will be on water resource and would give special emphasis in arsenic mitigation. The second will be on computer science, IT and VLSI, while the third will deal with material sciences. We are still working on the modalities,” said N. R. Banerjea vice chancellor of BESU.
As per the agreement 20 fourth year students from electronics department of BESU will visit QUB next autumn and would get the opportunity to study and work at the IECIT. “This collaboration between BESU and Queen’s will work towards increasing collaboration between electronics engineers in India and Belfast,” said Chris Gibson, Pro Chancellor of QUB. While QUB will take care of all expenses of the students once they reach Belfast, BESU will arrange for sponsorship to take care of travel expenses. “The foreign exposure for the students will help them in various ways. If we do not get all the twenty students from BESU we would look at other engineering institutions for the right candidate for this programme,” added Banerjea.
QUB will also offer fellowships to three teachers of BESU who are yet to do their PhD. Under this unique ‘Split Students’ programme one year of PhD program will be done in BESU while the rest two will be in Belfast. QUB will pay the doctoral followed 12000 pounds per annum, which would cover their tuition fee and living expense. These research fellows will have one guide from BESU and the other will be from QUB.
BESU’s VLSI centre along with WEBEL and QUB will also offer an incubation program for the engineering students of BESU, which could also be partially funded by QUB.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Respite in the horizon for private schoolteachers

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 19
The days of agony for teachers belonging to private schools in Bengal may soon come to an end. The Union labour ministry in its ‘workmen’ list would soon include schoolteachers.
The Union labour minister Oscar Fernandez during his visit to Kolkata on November 18 assured the workwomen’s forum of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) that schoolteachers would soon be included in the list of ‘workmen’. After speaking to the minister, Leena Chatterjee, general secretary of Forum for Teaching and Non Teaching Staffs of Private School of West Bengal said, “The minister informed us that the Central government has initiated the process of including the schoolteacher in the labour ministry’s list of ‘workmen’. The ministry has also simultaneously initiated the process of making all school teachers entitled to gratuity.”
Teachers belonging to private schools in Bengal are currently fighting against various injustices meted out by their employers, which include not offering the salary mentioned in the appointment letter, refusing the teachers’ casual and medical leave, forcing them to work more, denying them maternity leave and above all terminating them without notice when ever the management wishes to do so.
If the aggrieved were brought under the privy of the labour ministry, then it would be a big boost for them to raise their voice against the injustice. The teachers will be covered by the Industrial Dispute Act in case they have any problem with their employers. “If this is done teachers will be able to approach the labour directorate and the matter can be raised at the labour commission or the labour tribunal. The biggest win will be that the teachers will now have protection according to law,” Chatterjee said.
Another big problem teachers face that can be solved by their inclusion in the workmen list is their entitlement to maternity leave. Currently, as per state government rules, a teacher is entitled for 4 months maternity leave. The Central government is also working towards revising the maternity leave Act and extend it to six months. “Contractual teachers of various reputed ICSE and CBSE board affiliated schools in the state are asked to leave the job when they ask for maternity leave. Why will this happen? We will approach the ministry concerned to ensure that the government sees to it that such discrimination is not carried on,” the general secretary of the forum said.
Only permanent teachers of private schools are entitled to maternity leave. But it has been seen that schools stay away from recruiting permanent teachers when others retire and fill up the vacancies with contractual teachers. According to Chatterjee, a day might come when no teacher in a school would be eligible for maternity leave since they are on contract. “It is sad that though the non teaching staff in the schools are covered by labour laws and can have legal cover if they are not given maternity leave, in the case of the teachers it is not the same,” she added.
The West Bengal government too is aware of the of the conditions of private schoolteachers and had initiated the process of ensuring that they are given proper appointment letters, paid the salary promised and entitled to leaves like other employees. But that law is yet to take final shape and in such a scenario teachers feel the new development will help them to fight for their rights.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Now schoolkids come together on Nandigram

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 14
It was Children’s Day on Wednesday. But for countless schoolchildren a larger stage was awaiting them and instead of having fun they decided to stand beside the victims of Nandigram. If that was not enough, an SMS sent on behalf of Aparna Sen went to the heads of all reputed schools in the city, urging them to send relief for Nandigram victims.
Even as chief minister of Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee talking about the attack on the villagers of Nandigram by CPM cadres claimed that ‘they have been paid back in their own coin’ class 2 student of Vivekananda Mission School Sanjiya Mohanty could not stop thinking about the plight of the helpless villagers and refused to take part in the teachers day celebration organised by her school. Taken aback by the sentiments of the child the school has decided to help the Nandigram victims.
“I was surprised when my teachers informed that this child refused to attain the Children’s Day celebration because she was feeling sad for the people of Nandigram. Though not a word about Nandigram was discussed in school but we are surprised to note how students are aware of everything and are getting affected,” said Keya Sinha, principal of the school.
Teachers and students of many schools and colleges participated in the peace rally that was organised on Wednesday. Teachers from Patha Bhavan, of which the chief minister is a governing body member, also participated in the rally. “Many teachers from our school participated in the rally. Currently exams are going on but after they are over, we will collect relief materials for the victims in Nandigram,” said Swapan Das in-charge of Patha Bhavan High School.
Heads of many schools today have received an sms on behalf of Aparna Sen urging to donate relief material for the Nandigram victims. “Yes I have send the sms to some people and they are forwarding it. This is the time when just protesting would not help. Everyone should be beside the people of Nandigram,” Sen said.
Apart from various other schools, which have pledged help for Nandigarm victims Birla High School, South Point High School, Mahadevi Birla Girls High School, Laxmipat Singhania Academy and, Apeejay School are some of the institutions, which have decided to come forward to help the Nadigram victims after receiving the sms. While some students of Apeejay School and Modern High School donated food grains at the peace rally today Birla High School has asked the students to donate relief material from November 15.
Welland Gouldsmith School and Mahadevi Birla Girls High School has given the responsibility to the schools interact club to collect relief material. But even as students and teachers of the schools are showing solidarity they are also carefully taking every step so that their move is not considered political. “I have asked the students not to donate money but other relief material. Since this is also a political issue some parents may feel bad. But our main concern now is whether the relief material could reach the victims as they are still not letting in outsiders in Nandigram, if the relief material does not reach the victims the students will be demoralised,” said Malini Bhagat, principal of Mahadevi Birla Girls High School.
Even as the private schools are trying to stand beside the victims of Nandigram the government schools are staying away from it. Do they fear the wrath of Bhattacharjee?
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

BOX:
This is the SMS from Aparna Sen –
Dear Friends,
Protest is not enuf! Relief is urgently required 4 victims of Nandigram. Pls send old clothes, children’s clothes, rice etc 2 following add:
C/O Mahashweta Debi, W 2C 12/3 Phase 2, Golf Green, Kol 95. Phn 24143033.
Pls 4ward to as many people as possible.
Thanks, Aparna Sen.

Students, teachers to take Nandigram to New Delhi

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 13
Call it the Nandigram affect. After intellectuals it is the turn of the students and teachers to hit the road.
Teachers belonging to the All Bengal University Teachers Association (ABUTA) are writing a letter to President Pratibha Patil on the violence unleashed by armed CPI(M) cadres in Nandigram. “We will be sending the letter to the President on Wednesday,” said Tarun Nashkar, general secretary of ABUTA.
The Congress students’ wing, Chatra Parishad representatives have left for the Capital. “We will be meeting Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday and would urge him to visit Nandigram. Cahtra Parishad had won the students election at Nandigram College but the institution could not open due to the violence. Many students have been killed and injured also. We would be urging Rahul to pressurise the state government,” said Sourav Chakraborty, state general secretary of Chatra Parsihad.
Showing their solidarity, a silent rally of about 200 students and teachers was taken within the Jadavpur University (JU) campus on Tuesday. “Is this the party which carried out land reforms in Bengal and turned the fortune of farmers for the better? The brutal killing of farmers has made us realise that the party does not believe in Communist ideology. Land reform was just a weapon for them to come to power and now they have changed stance and are killing innocent villagers,” said Nashkar, who is also a professor of engineering faculty at JU.
JU students have also organised a roadside demonstration in the evening outside the varsity and collecting relief. “Incidents like this are increasingly affecting the popularity of CPI(M) and the Left Front. People are losing their faith in this government and in such a scenario we students have a huge role to play in the agitation,” said Amit Chakraborty, a first year ME student of JU.
The students of Presidency College will also join the protests. Right now they are busy raising funds for the victims of Nandigram. They are not only approaching fellow students and alumnus to donate but would also organise a road show with intellectuals for collecting funds. “What the cadres have done in Nandigram would do credit to a fascist organisation. We are unable to differentiate between Narendra Modi and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Pleading will not help. The need of the hour is to unite to resist the government,” said Dipanjan Sinha, general secretary of Presidency College Students Union.
Students of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur have just started to return after their Puja holiday and they too plan to join the protest. Students and teachers of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta too has expressed heir desire to help the victims. The non-teaching staff of IIT Kharagpur had brought out a peace rally in the campus on November 9. Many students and teachers from JU, Presidency and BESU will be joining the intellectuals’ rally.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

JU students make it big on reel

HT Correspondent
Kolkata, November 12
SOME STUDENTS of Jadavpur University (JU) have achieved a special feat. Two documentary films made by students of the university’s mass communication department will be screened at the ongoing Kolkata Film Festival. And if that was not enough, the team will release another documentary early next year.
Produced by JU, two documentary films — With the Dreams of Light and Promise of Light — will be screened at the Bangla Academy on November 17. Both these films deal with the university and is of 30 minutes and 13 minutes duration, respectively.
In fact, With the Dreams of Light is the first-ever documentary on JU history. The film depicts the journey of the university since 1906 and how it grew into one of the best academic institutions of the country.
The Promise of Light on the other hand depicts the social service work done by JU students under the National Service Scheme (NSS) in red light areas of Tollygunge.
Seven students from the mass communication department worked on both the documentaries. The team did the research for the films, pre-production work, shooting and the post-production job as well. Mass com student Parag Sarkar directed the films, while his classmate Sounak Sengupta was the production manager.
“A documentary on the history of the university has never been shot before. It is a matter of credit and encouragement for the students that both their films will be screened during the ongoing Kolkata Film Festival. Since the students have shown their potential, the university will work towards letting them handle several such projects,” dean of students Rajat Ray said.
The students are also excited as their film has been chosen in the short-film category. “This is a huge honour for us. It is mind boggling and the joy has doubled because both the documentary talks about our university,” said Sarkar.
The university plans to invite its famous former students during the screening of the documentary films at the film festival.
The university is currently in the process of making 2,000 copies of each film so that it could be sold to interested students teachers, staff members and alumni at a nominal cost. The film will be made part of the university archive. The university is also planning to upload the films on its website so that both present and past students, as well as others across the globe, can access them and learn about JU history.
The filmmakers also want to move ahead and are currently working on another project. Now, they are capturing on reel the chemical engineering department’s ambitious work on flower extracts. The film titled Petal Per Say will be a 30-minute documentary on used flowers and the plight of flower cultivators in Bengal. The team has shot extensively in Shantiniketan, Bagnan, Barisha, Babughat, and Panshpura. The film will show how used flowers can be converted into herbal colour. The documentary will be released by January 2008.
Mou.Chakroborty@hindustantimes.com

Session change decision likely today

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 11
The final decision on change in academic session in government and aided schools is likely to be taken on Monday.
School education minister Partha De had expressed his desire to change the academic session from present May-April to January-December but is facing difficulty from various quarters. A five member expert committee headed by the directorate of school education Diben Mukherjee was formed to look into the matter. However, three of the five members had spoken against it. The Higher Secondary Council, Madhyamik and the primary education board are also against the change. The committee will submit its report to De on Monday.
De had also run into opposition from former school education minister and the present head of CPM’s education cell Kanti Biswas. Biswas had changed the academic session from January December to May-April in 1989 to maintain parity with the rest of the country. Three of the fourteen teachers associations are opposed to the change, which also includes the CPI(M) backed All Bengal Teachers Association (ABTA).
De along with 11 other teachers’ organisation wants to change the academic session because this will help schools to increase the number of working days. Though the state has instructed schools to have at least 280 days effectively the session is whittled down to 210 days.
Pro-changers say as January is the harvesting season villagers are flush with money and hence will not have any problem in buying books. However, those opposing the move say the economy has improved and people have disposable money throughout the year.
Those against the change feel that by breaking the all India parity, students from Bengal will find it difficult to seek admission in other states. Hence a suggestion has also been made by some educationists to bring forward the session by one month and make it March-April. However, the school education ministry feels that most of the students do not want to go in another state.
Keeping this in mind the school education ministry has decided not to change the schedule of Madhyamik and HS exams. The session change will only affect students studying till Class IX.
However if the change comes about, the ministry will only implement it from 2009 as publishers need time.
Currently the state has three academic sessions – while the schools in the Hills have January-December academic session. Hence 11 teachers association say that if change happens then Bengal would have one academic session.

Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

BESU may enjoy equal status as IITs soon

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 9

Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur’s wait to become an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) might soon be over. The university is expecting to receive an official communication from the Centre regarding its elevation to an IIEST within this month.
After a meeting with Ravi Mathur, joint secretary of ministry of human resource development (MHRD) on November 5, BESU vice-chancellor N.R. Banerjea said, “Very soon MHRD will be sending us a formal communication informing us about our up gradation to IIEST and announce the takeover of administrative and financial control of the university from the state government.”
The university is currently celebrating its 150th year, and is one of the five institutions that have been short-listed by the Anandkrishnan Committee to be upgraded to an Institute of National Importance (INI) and renamed as IIEST. “This letter will be important to us, because for the first time, the Central government will be making a written commitment about taking the university’s control from the state government and upgrading it to an IIEST,” said Banerjea.
But the letter would not solve all woes related to BESU’s upgrade to an IIEST. The institute wants to get it declared as an IIEST by this month, which the last month of its 150th year. Authorities are hoping that the IIEST bill will be placed in Parliament once the winter session begins from November 15. It is only after that that BESU would be able to start preparing for next year’s admission as an IIEST.
The state government as well as the university does not want any further delay. Higher education minister Sudarsan Roychoudhuri has written a letter to MHRD on November 6, urging it to bring the bill in Parliament quickly. “Since the state and the Centre have jointly agreed upon the upgrade and important decisions like the participatory mode of governance and 50 per cent seat reservation for Bengal students have been accepted by both parties, I have urged the Centre to do the needful at the earliest.”
However, the institute need not despair if the bill is not tabled soon. According to sources within the MHRD, even if the IIEST bill is not tabled during the winter session of Parliament, if it issues an executive order stating that the bill will be passed in the next session and urge the institution to go ahead with governance and admissions, the problem could be solved.
To avoid complications, the MHRD had also offered to draft the IIEST bill by bringing some amendments in the already existing National Institute of Technology (NIT) Bill and create an umbrella statute. But BESU has spoken out against it because, while an IIEST would enjoy equal status with the IITs, an NIT is merely a state run institution adopted by the Centre with a centralised admission process. BESU, however, would not mind if the IIEST bill is clubbed with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IIESR) bill, which though released through an execution order of Parliament last year, is yet to be passed.
Mou.Chakrabory@hindutsantimes.com

Promoting brand IIM-C globally

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 7
Brand IIMC has arrived. The students of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) are using their annual international business school meet ‘Intaglio’ to make B-Schools across the globe aware of their existence.
Apart from all the leading B-Schools in the country, IIMC has approached over 120 foreign institutions for participation in Intaglio, which will be held between January 4 and 6. Harvard, Ivy League, Stanford, London School of Business, Yale University and National University of Singapore are among the institutions that have been invited.
“We are keen to promote brand IIMC worldwide. We want the students from the best B-Schools to come to the IIMC and what better way to do it than through Intaglio,” said Deepak H a student coordinator of the meet.
The theme for Intaglio is “Reaching Out… Staying Ahead.” The organisers feel that with rapid globalisation old strategies should change. Senseless competition is out and the mantra now is to forge strategic alliances with potential customers, which are other B schools.
Around 2,000 students will be coming from all over the world for the meet. “Since there are common recruiters we have a very good idea about foreign B-Schools. They have heard about the IIM but most have no clue that there are six institutions and each have their identity,” said Deepak.
This year, Intaglio is set to get bigger, with Knowledge Partnerships with Ivy League institutions. The India Business Forum of the London Business School, a forum for academicians and entrepreneurs has confirmed that it will work with Intaglio. Organisers are waiting for more tie-ups with other international schools. “This will be the best platform for the would be managers to display their skills,” said Deepak.
Talking about building brand IIMC he said, “Globalisation has made the world small and many of our students go to foreign shores. The opposite is true for our foreign counterparts. It will be great if we exchange contacts. It will be wonderful if people outside come to know of the IIMs.”
Intaglio also launched it’s new website: http://www.iimc-intaglio.com last week. Anurag Mishra, design coordinator, said, “In just over a week, the site has received hits from 22 countries, namely US, Singapore, Australia, UK, France, China, Zambia and Mozambique. This represents the stature of IIM Calcutta and Intaglio in the eyes of the world.”
Intaglio will have some of the largest exclusive events, encompassing all facets of management, from finance to marketing, strategy to systems and operations. The meet has also received ISO 9001:2000 certification. The Aditya Birla Group will be the title partner of Intaglio 2007-08. Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Drive against gaming piracy soon

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 4
The Indian Music Industry (IMI) and Sony Playstation is all set to start their drive against gaming piracy in the city with the help of school and college students.
While an original Playstation disk costs between Rs 2500 and Rs 499 the pirated version is available for Rs 100 or less. Titles like Superman, Spiderman, car races and cricket are some of the best selling pirated disks. One of the reasons for their popularity with students is that the pirated versions are cheap and these CDs and DVDs can run on computers and do not need a separate gaming console.
The console and PC games market in India is worth $ 45 million and over 90 per cent ninety percent of it is pirated. IMI and Sony have already conducted more than 30 raids all over the country.
IMI will also make students aware about piracy. “Students are mostly in the habit of buying pirated disks as they face pocket money crunch and are addicted to gaming. In such a scenario we feel that making students and their institutions aware is important,” said Savio D’Souza spokesperson of IMI.
IMI is also writing to principals of schools and colleges asking them to discourage students from buying pirated stuff. A team of IMI officials will also visit prominent institutions and interact with students. They will also try to get the name of people who are selling these items from the students who their main customers.
IMI feels that parents should also be educated about the harmful affects of piracy. “Today’s parents are too busy to think about all these things and do not mind giving their child Rs 100 to pick up a playstation disk. They do not care if the product is pirated or not. But they should realise that by doing this they are encouraging their child to steal, rob and cheat, as this hurts gaming companies. Parents should also desist from gifting kids pirated CDs in Diwali,” D’Souza added.
IMI has already spotted shops in Vardan Market, AC Market, Shreeram Arcade, New Market and Metro Plaza selling pirated games disks. “Kolkata is an area to watch out for. Our anti piracy team along with the Kolkata Police will soon conduct raids,” D’Souza said.
The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is a consortium of over 75 music companies. It strives to protect the rights of producers by conducting anti piracy drives. Vijay Lazarus, President, IMI, said, “The copyright act isn’t restrictive to music industry only. IMI is working with Sony Playstation to clamp down on unauthorized use of their content.”
Mou.Chakroborty@hindustantimes.com

Pharmacy institute opens city chapter

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 5

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) opened its Kolkata chapter on Monday. The institute offers masters and PhD programmes in various fields related to pharmacy and the first session begins from Tuesday.
The first NIPER opened in Mohali 12 years ago. The Parliament granted permission for seven more such institutes earlier this year. Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bihar have a NIPER each and Guwahati and Raebareli would have one from 2008.
Union minister for chemical and fertilizers, and steel Ram Vilas Paswan and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were present at the inauguration of the Kolkata unit. “NIPER would groom students for research in pharmacy and aim at solving the manpower crunch in this field,” said Paswan.
The Kolkata unit does not have its own campus and would operate from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. Its own campus would come up on 100 acres and Paswan requested the state government to look for the land.
The Centre would provide the money for creating infrastructure for the institute.
“There is land in Kalyani and Baruipur. I hope the institute is able to find a good place at any of these places,” the chief minister said.
NIPER is offering M.Pharm in medicinal chemistry, natural products chemistry and pharmaco informatics. “We’ll offer many more courses like biotechnology and pharmacy practice from the coming academic session,” said Ashish Kumar Banerjee, scientist and project director at NIPER.
“Our aim will be to provide skilled manpower and knowledge base for the pharmacy industry so that India does not have to depend on foreign research and can invent and patent its own drugs,” he added.
Candidates who have done B.Pharm or M.Sc in chemistry and cleared GATE or NET would be eligible to apply for admission. NIPER would conduct a national joint entrance test and selected candidates would be called for counselling. There are just 30 students in NIPER Kolkata’s first academic session.
“Our aim is to get the best students with the orientation for research work. Though our intake was very less this year, we would double intake from next session,” the director said.
NIPER Kolkata has its own faculty, but there would also be visiting faculties from Jadavpur University, Bose Institute, Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Institute of Cultivation Sciences, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology.

Mou.Chakarborty@hindustantimes.com

Changes on anvil for PhD in JU

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 2

Jadavpur University is all set to change the rules governing its PhD programmes from December to stop plagiarisation of theses and upgrade its quality.
The university has sought recommendations from its arts, science and engineering faculties. The arts and science faculties have already come up with these. The engineering faculty — which faces maximum cases of plagiarisation — is still framing these.
“The university will make several changes needing a change in the university’s statute and act. That cannot be done without passing it at the university’s executive council. We hope all the recommendations are ready by November so that the university can make the necessary changes by December,” said a university official.
If the recommendations are any indication, there might soon be a bar on any Masters degree holder applying for a PhD. Candidates might soon need to clear a written examination followed by interview. His academic record too would be checked. However, those clearing exams like NET and GATE could directly appear for the interview without taking the written test.
Constitution of the doctoral committee, too, could see a change. Till date engineering, science and arts faculties had one such committee each. But burdened with over 150 PhD proposals, they rarely had the time to check if the proposed thesis was worth pursuing or already pursued. But now there is proposal to set up a separate committee for each faculty. The students and guides would have to appear before the committee from time to time and the committee would monitor the thesis’ progress.
JU is also planning to allow inter-disciplinary PhD. Students can choose inter-departmental as well as inter-faculty topics involving a department from the arts faculty, one from science and one from engineering. In case of inter-faculty PhD, the university would decide who the PhD guide or guides would be.
Once the PhD topic is decided, the students would also be asked to undergo ‘course work’ or a basic course to orient all students to do a PhD.
Students who are able to clear the course would go ahead with the PhD work. Those opting out of course work would have to clear M.Phil first.
The university is also debating on the size of the PhD thesis. Some teachers emphasise on both quality and quantity (number of pages); other emphasise on quality.
Students might also have to make a PhD thesis pre-submission defence before the doctoral committee and present a seminar before the thesis is sent for evaluation.
The evaluation pattern too could see changes. The thesis might have to be re-written if the evaluators have minor questions. The university is also likely to fix the elegibility criteria of PhD evaluators, denying PhD guides the independence to choose them.
Mou.Chankarborty@hindustantimes.com

State cabinet says: No BESU pro vice-chancellor for now

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 1

The state cabinet on Wednesday decided to defer the agenda for creating a pro vice-chancellor post for Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur.
BESU has been selected by the Central government to be upgraded to an Institute of National Importance (INI) and a bill in this regard is slated to be tabled in parliament on November 15. If BESU succeeds in becoming an INI, the Centre will control the working of the institution, though the state government will have some say in it. Thus, the state decided not to go ahead with giving BESU its long-standing demand of a pro vice-chancellor because it was felt that the move might send the wrong signal to the Centre.
Some in the state government felt the move might make the Central government feel that the state is not ready to hand over the university to the Centre. Another reason behind deferring the creation of the pro V-C’s post till the next cabinet meeting is that if BESU gets INI status, then it would have the IIT mode of governance. And in all probability, the head of the institution will be the director instead of the vice-chancellor. The Centre might not consider the option of awarding the director’s post to the present vice-chancellor. The same might also happen with the pro vice-chancellor’s position.
BESU had asked for the pro vice-chancellor’s post, because the university needs a person who would look after the day-to-day academic activities of the university, as its present vice-chancellor N.R. Banerjea other responsibilities.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

IIT summit to encourage business skills

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, November 1

IIT Kharagpur is taking an initiative to help students become entrepreneurs, rather than job-seekers.
The institute will host a three-day entrepreneurship summit from Friday for students of eastern India. The initiative, the first of its kind by IIT-KGP students, is aimed at helping students of other technology institutes and general degree colleges. “After completing our degree courses, most of us think of taking up a job but few consider becoming an entrepreneur. But we have seen that many students want to become entrepreneurs but do not know how to go about it. This summit will help them understand the various aspects of starting a business,” said Rashmit Ritam Das, a third-year student of IIT-KGP and student manager of the institute’s entrepreneurship cell responsible for organising the event.
About 400 students from various institutes in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, including St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Jadavpur University, Calcutta University and Heritage Institute of Technology, are participating in the summit.
“We have seen that no matter how much money the government is ready to spend, the students have an inherent fear of starting a businesses venture. They want to stay secure with a monthly salary instead of taking up the challenge of running a business. Summits such as this organised by students for students will help them overcome this fear,” said Dhrubesh Biswas, professor of electronics at IIT-KGP and professor-in-charge of the entrepreneurship cell.
To cultivate a love for entrepreneurship skills among students, the summit will also include contests. Winners will get cash prizes and a chance to get incubation from IIT-KGP to start a business with up to Rs 10 lakh as start-up money. The summit will include workshops where experts will talk about aspects such as entrepreneurs finance, how to ideate and write a business plan, innovation in IT and social entrepreneurship.
Another problem that the students and faculty members would try to address through this summit is how to inspire students who have decided to start entrepreneurship to stick to it. “The problem is that in this part of the world we do not have an entrepreneurship culture. And hence even after getting money, they do not go ahead with their business venture. But this would not happen if the students themselves form a community with the interest in setting up their own business. And that is what summits like this will be doing,” said Biswas.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Lecturer test going in for makeover

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, October 31

State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) conducted to appoint lecturers in government-aided colleges is going in for a makeover. The reason, only 2.98 per cent students have cleared SLET and a worried West Bengal College Service Commission (WBCSC), which conducts the exam, has decided to ring in the changes.
This year 8000 sat for the SLET in August. The results published on October 29 make grim reading as only 265 have cleared the exam. Alarmed, the chairman of WBCSC Himangshu Ghosh has informed higher education minister Sudarsan Roychoudhuri about the sharp drop. The commission has also urged a probe by the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education.
In commerce and chemical science only 8 and 7 students respectively have cleared the exam. In life science only 6 students have passed and in economics only two students have crossed the hurdle. The worst affected are earth and mathematical sciences where the pass percentage is zero.
“If the students fails to pass the SLET then it means that colleges will not get lecturers. I have urged the higher education council to call a vice-chancellors meeting at the earliest,” said Ghosh.
“Any exam system has the scope for upgradation but the meeting is also important. Then everyone will understand whether the syllabus or the students is the problem,” said Roychoudhuri.
But Ghosh seems to have pinpointed the problem. The main problem according to Ghosh is that some subjects cover a wide area. For example mathematical sciences also include statistics and computer science. Life science covers subjects like botany, physiology, zoology and microbiology. “A student taking SLET is expected to be an all-rounder and the person may not have the same competency level in all subjects. This could be the reason for not fairing well,” said Ghosh.
While SLET offers only 21 subjects, National Level Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by UGC offers 92 subjects. From 2008 SLET too will offer more subjects like microbiology, physiology, electronics and biochemistry. “We have already spoken to the UGC and would be breaking down several subjects which are in a combination mode. More students hopefully will clear the exams,” said Ghosh. SLET 2008 is scheduled for March.
Though the commission will be offering more subjects from next year, Ghosh feels that students should do away with suggestions. “Most of the students these days do not have an in depth knowledge. This is because they do not do any library work and heavily depend of their private tutor and do suggestive study. Unless this is changed we will not get lecturers for our colleges,” Ghosh said.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Home centres retained for private engg colleges

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, October 30

The students of private engineering colleges may get to take their next semester exam starting December 3 from their home centres.
The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), which governs all the 58 private engineering colleges in the state, though wanted to scrap do away with the practice of awarding home centres but failed. “We want to scrap home centres but it would not be possible from December,” said S. R. Islam, registrar of WBUT.
The issue will be raised in the university’s executive council meeting next week. The main stumbling block is that about 20 per cent of institutions located in North Bengal do not have another engineering college nearby for students to take their exam. Engineering colleges in Malda, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Dooars, Cooch Behar and West Midnapore are facing this problem.
The principals of most institutions have already informed authorities that unless away exam centre is given to all colleges they would not want the university to implement it. Many colleges have also sighted infrastructure problems for hosting exams from another college.
WBUT had tried to rent non-engineering colleges hosting the exams. But problems have coped up here too. “It would not be a problem to rent colleges during December as there are holidays. But our next semester exam is in June and it will coincide with exams of non-engineering colleges. So this cannot be a permanent solution,” said Islam.
About 70,000 students would be taking the exam in December. The university had tried to do away with home centres in June this year but they backtracked after strong students’ protest. “If the university has to do away with home centres then it should be implemented everywhere. Why will we go to another college when our counterparts have a home advantage,” said a student of Narula Institute of Technology.
A section of teachers at WBUT too feel similarly. “Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur have home centres for their students. But can anyone raise questions about the credibility of exams. A student who is a cheat will do it anywhere,” said a source in the university. The university however has decided to send more visiting teams to the colleges during the semester exams.
Mou.Chakarborty@hindustantimes.com

Teachers' training to make maths lesson fun

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, October 30
Teachers from primary schools in the state will be given specialised training. This is being done so that they can drive the fear of a particular subject from the minds of pupils.
The Diagnostic Achievement Test (DAT) report, which was aimed at making a comparative study of the strengths and weaknesses of students in various subjects in different parts of Bengal, has revealed that most pupils have “scope for improvement” in the subject. Hence, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education has conceived of a plan to train schoolteachers so that they may teach the subject in a manner interesting to students.
“Mathematics and English are two subjects that remain a cause of fear for children in primary schools. If teachers know beforehand the sections which a student fails to understand and also how they can make the lesson easy yet interesting, students would develop a liking for the subject,” said Shulopany Bhattacharya, president of the primary board.
Studies have also revealed that weakness in mathematics is a major cause for the increase in dropout rates amongst students. “Most students lose interest in going to school because they do not understand mathematics. Thus, besides giving them mid day meals and taking other steps to ensure that dropout rates decrease, we will also have to ensure that they love mathematics,” said Bhattacharya.
Teachers will be taught ways of making calculation more interesting by using various teaching aids. “Instead of doing a calculation on the black board, if a teacher can demonstrate it with certain tangible objects in front of their eyes, like for instance, if pupils get to see how 2 + 2 equals 4, they would definitely understand it,” Bhattacharya explained.
Though primary schools would not be able to start mathematics labs like in CBSE schools in the state, teachers will be encouraged to explain to students with live examples.
Well-known mathematics scholars will prepare the curriculum for teachers’ training across the state. Teachers, especially newcomers, would be targeted for the training programme. There are almost two lakh teachers in primary schools and the board will first train a small group of teachers as master resource persons, who in turn, would train some chosen teachers as district resource persons. These district resource persons would then go out to every circle in the districts and impart the training to teachers there.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com