Friday, March 30, 2007

Teachers’ training to reduce summer holidays

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 30, 2007
There is some bad news for students and teachers belonging to secondary schools under the state board. They will have to forego a week from their summer holidays to facilitate an orientation programme for teachers.
The orientation programme for teachers is being organised to help them understand the new grade system to be introduced in schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE). The summer vacation was due to start from May 18. But a circular from the board has urged all schools to go on vacation on or after May 25. Generally, the schools are closed for 65 days in a year.
“We have done this to ensure that all the schools go on summer vacation at the same time and we can train all the teachers during this period. We are introducing the grade system this year and this orientation programme will be essential to ensure the smooth functioning of the new system,” said Swapan Sarkar, Secretary of WBBSE.
The board has introduced 7-point grading system from Class-VI to IX, starting from the 2007-08 academic session. Henceforth, students would be given grades, besides the actual marks obtained in each subject.
Apart from educating the teachers about the rules related to the grading system, the teachers would also get special training on conducting unit tests. “The syllabus has been updated and the teachers need to know what they will teach and how. The grade system is also new in this state and hence, the teachers should know what to do in the classroom. We had specially requested the board to conduct the training programme as early as possible,” said Shiboprashad Mukhopadhyay, general secretary of All Bengal Teachers Association (ABTA).
There are about 1,70,000 secondary teachers in Bengal. The board will ensure that a sizable proportion of them attend the 5-day training programme. They will go back to their respective schools and train the rest of the teachers. “We will be deciding on the training manual and schedule shortly,” said Sharkar.
The new school session is due to begin on May 2, but full-fledged classes will only start after the summer vacation. Apart from explaining the grade system, the teachers will also be given subject-wise orientation. They will also be updated about the new evaluation process, which would include scanning various competencies of the students such as — knowledge, skill, aptitude and application.
The teachers would also learn how to frame questions under the new syllabus. Apart from annual examinations, the schools are scheduled to conduct 8 unit tests. To incorporate all these changes for the first time, WBBSE will give the teachers a blue print of the academic calendar, which will clearly demarcate when to conduct the unit tests.
However, all teachers’ organisations are not happy with the introduction of the grading system in schools. “The grade system aims at reducing stress. But the way it is being implemented, it will not be able to curb competition. On the contrary, we do not have enough teachers to implement the system,” said Subhankar Bandhyopadhyay, general secretary of Secondary Teachers and Employees Association.
mou.chakraborty@hindustantimes.com

Thursday, March 29, 2007

IIMC, IIT-KGP to go ahead with quota implementation

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 29, 2007
Despite the Supreme Court stay on 27 per cent OBC reservation in elite central educational institutions like IITs and IIMs, IIM Calcutta (IIMC) and IIT Kharagpur will not stall phased implementation of the quota from this year until they receive a government order in his regard.
IIT Kharagpur will take 9 per cent OBC students this year while IIM Calcutta’s target is 3 per cent.
The IIT-JEEs form this year had already mentioned OBC as one of the categories. The exam is scheduled for April 8 with the results due by the end of June.
“We are aware of the Supreme Court order but our process of implementing the quota in phase manner from this year will continue until we get a directive from the government to do otherwise. We will go by the government order and not by the Supreme Court order or media reports. We are continuing with our process,” said S. K. Dube, director, IIT Kharagpur.
After the publication of CAT results on January 2, IIMC had come up with a new list of OBC category students on January 31. These students were interviewed and even short-listed. The offer letters will be given by mid April. “Thankfully we have not sent the offer letters yet. But we cannot close the admissions process for OBC’s if we do not get a government order. Since it is a Supreme Court judgment I am sure the government will issue some sort of order in this regard and we will follow that,” said Prof. Anindya Sen, dean of programmes and research initiative at IIMC.
But though the IIT’s have time till June to go ahead or stall implementation of the quota, IIMC desperately needs a government order in this regard by the second week of April to avoid confusion over admitting 3 per cent OBC students this year. On top of that, unlike IIT Kharagpur, which has kept the general seats intact and is adding up 9 per cent seats for OBC, IIMC has added 3 per cent OBC seats and have increased the same percentage of seats in the general category.
The question now is even if quota implementation is stalled what will happen to the extra 3 per cent general category seats? “If we receive a government order in this regard asking us to stall implementation we will have to think about what should be done about the additional three per cent seats in the general category,” said Prof. Ashish Bhattacharya, a member of the CAT group and chairman, admissions, IIMC.
While IIT Kharagpur is not immediately deciding on the increase in student fees because of the implementation of OBC quota, IIMC’s general body will meet on April 1 to decide on increases in students fee in the wake of implementation of quota. A fee hike is likely because the institute already has a Rs 1 Lakh deficit per student and with 600 students currently in campus the deficit has gone up to Rs 6 crore. “We are already running in deficit and irrespective of the implementation of quota the general body will take its ultimate decision in this regard on April 1,” said Prof. Bhattacharya.
While IIMC has sought about Rs 147 crore for infrastructure development and 50 acres of land, it has been allotted only Rs 47.5 crore. While IIT Kharagpur has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota. The funds in this regard are due to be allotted to all the institutions from the coming financial year, which may get stalled if the OBC quota implementation is held-up by the government.
mou.hindustantimes@gmail.com

BOXES

IIT-Kharagpur’s OBC implementation plan till date
q IIT-KGP likely to introduce 334 seats under OBC category in 2007.
q 125 seats will go to undergraduate programme and 210 seats will be introduced to the post graduate programmes
q The seats in general category will remain intact.
q 60 faculties to be recruited in 2007-2008 academic session for this purpose.
q IIT-KGP has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota.
q Nine percent seats to be added in OBC quota every year till 2009.
q The student’s strength to go up by 54 percent, that is additional 6500 students will be in IIT-KGP campus in 2014.
q All total 500 additional faculties by 2012 to cater to 54 percent extra students.
q The infrastructure will be developed over a period of seven years.

IIM Calcutta OBC implementation plan till date
q IIMC to implement 3 percent OBC quota from 2007 academic session
q Fresh list of OBC candidates will be published by January 31.
q About 50 students will be called and 9 students will be finally offered seat
q IIMC had asked for Rs. 147 crore (approx) for infrastructure development and 50 acers of land.
q The institute has been allotted only Rs.47.5 crore for the purpose.
q Faculty feels the fund is not enough for infrastructure development & maintenance of academic quality.
q While IIMC recommended 1:7 teachers-students ratio the center has cut it to 1:14
q The medical facility in the campus too is not enough to handle the extra population

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

After Presidency now SFI lose JU students union over Nandigram issue

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 28
A month ago, the SFI lost the Presidency College students’ union to the political heat over Singur and Nandigram. On Wednesday, it lost the Jadavpur University arts faculty election over the same issues after eight years of uninterrupted domination. The loss will leave the CPI(M)’s students’ wing virtually unrepresented on the campus.
Forum for Arts Students (FAS), a body with an ultra-Left ideology, which made opposition to the state’s land acquisition policy in Singur and Nandigram its main poll plank, swept the election, winning 95 of the 130 Class Representative (CR) seats. It also bagged all the four panel seats of office-bearers. It won the vice-chairman seat by 429 votes, that of the general secretary by 454 votes and those of the day and night assistant general secretaries by 401 and 52 votes. Even the night assistant general secretary’s seat went AIDSO, an FAS ally. The SFI never had much following in university’s engineering and science faculties but had a stranglehold on in the arts faculty.
So complete was its sway that even last year the FAS had only a lone representative in the vice-chairman. With the arts faculty gone the SFI will now have struggle for survival.
“It is a total rout for the SFI. It reflects the students’ anger over Singur and Nandigram issue. The SFI had no voice of its own. It only said what the CPI (M) said. We worked with the people of Nandigram and Singur told the students about the injustice meted out to them,” FAS spokesperson Abhishek Mukherjee said.
SFI state president Sudip Sengupta said, “Our opponents made the sad incident of Nandigram their campaign plank. Even teachers, who had nothing to do with the students’ election, campaigned on the issue. The facts about Nandigram were wrongly represented. But we will overcome this setback.”
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 25, 2007

CNI schools to turn child friendly, ban corporal punishment

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 25, 2007
Many modern-day teachers, like teachers in their own childhood, still believe sparing the rod only spoils the child. The Churches of North India (CNI) is changing all that. It will ban corporal punishment in its schools and make its teachers ‘child-friendly’.
The rules being drafted for the accent-shift will take effect in July and protect children from punishments like having to stand up on the bench, stand outside the class, squat in a kneel-down position, being beaten with scales and insulted in front of others. In Kolkata, more than 10 schools including La Martiniere, Pratt Memorial, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Paul’s and St. John Diocesan, are gearing up for the change.
“All punishments that involve physical abuse or end in mental and social stigma for the child should stop. Such punishments have a lasting effect. A child should not also be asked to stand outside the class because this amounts depriving him. His parents are paying for his studies and he has the right to attend the classes. Making standing up on the bench too is no solution either. So we are making firm rules barring teachers from administering such punishments,” said CNI head Bishop P. S. P. Raju.
The rules will lay down what a teacher can and cannot do. He will teach his students, adivise even counsel them, but never resort to physical or verbal abuse to discipline them.
If a student turns out to be too obstinate or wayward, the teacher, for instance, can make him write ‘ I will never do this again’ a hundred times. He will explain to the student why he was being punished. But if the student repeats the offence, the principal will step in.
“If the principal fails to make him fall in line, he will speak to the student in the presence of his guardians. If that too fails, we will send him to a counsellor. If this fails to work, we will ask him to go some other school,” said Raju.
To avoid police complaints and lawsuits the whole process of ‘trying to correct an unruly child’ will be documented. “Just as we don’t want children to suffer, we also don’t want our teachers be harassed by our students parents.
A teacher might at times feel that a particular student could do with some mild scolding. But he must scold the child in the presence of another teacher. With proper documentation the school will able to prove its point in a court of law. To help teachers adapt to the new methodology, there will be orientation programmes every three months. We have subject-specific orientation courses. But these programmes will be on teaching techniques,” said Raju.
The curriculum will cover areas like fighting with exam stress, child management and will cover the basic instructions in the UN charter for child protection.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Friday, March 23, 2007

Boost for minority schools in state

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 23, 2007
The religious minority schools in Bengal will no longer have to wait indefinitely for a no objection certificate (NOC). The National Commission for Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI) declared on Friday, that if the state fails to give them an answer within 90 days, they would consider themselves NOC holders. The commission is visiting the city and met 83 Christian schools.
The schools belonging to Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim and Zoroastrian communities will benefit from this provision. NCMEI has come into effect through a parliamentary act and has powers to ensure that the minority educational institutions get justice. “The state sometimes delay on an NOC application by the minority institutions. We protect them for harassment,” said Justice M. S. A. Siddiqui, chairman of NCMEI.
Even if the state government denies NOC, then the schools can reapply with the NCMEI and chances are high that they will get a positive reply. “The state government will not be able to obtain a stay from the lower courts on the judgement delivered by NCMEI. We will ensure that justice is given at the earliest. However, to avail of this facility, all minority institutions should obtain a certificate from us or the government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
Procuring an NOC from the state government is essential. It is only with the help of this certificate that the schools can apply for affiliation with the CBSE, ICSE or West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. NCMEI however, does not plan to give a directive to the boards, making them aware of the provision of minority schools getting NOC automatically if the state does not respond in 90 days. “This is now the law of the land. While applying for an affiliation, the schools needs to show their receipt of the NOC application by the sate government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
About 20 minority schools in the state, which is awaiting NOC from the state government, for over a year, will benefit. St. Xavier’s school applied for NOC for its girl’s school named Mary Ann on January 2006 and is still awaiting the final reply from the school education department.
In order to get NOC, the schools have to agree to certain terms and conditions, which infringe upon their powers. Justice Siddiqui asked the schools not to agree to harsh terms and if required, ensure that such conditions are rectified. The commission has added that the state cannot force quotas on a school even if they are giving grants to the institution. “The schools have the right to admit students from their community, teachers and non-teaching staff. The schools can also increase their fees as per requirement,” Siddiqui said.
The sate government will also not have the right to decease the number of seats in any religious minority institution. However if the state has fixed any eligibility criteria for recruitment of teachers, the institution has to follow it. “We will ensure that the minority institutions’ rights are well protected and the state cannot interfere. However we will also ensure that the academic excellence of the institutions is maintained. The schools will have to follow the basic eligibility criteria set by the state government for staff selection,” Siddiqui said.
(mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com)

JU English results published

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 23
Jadavpur University (JU) on Friday evening published the results of English PG I&II students. The results of 130 students were on hold since January because a lecturer of the department had refused to submit the answer sheets of some students.
On March 21, the Executive Council (EC) of the university gave a clean chit to all the 16 students, directed Monojit Mandal to submit the answer scripts within the next 24 hours and had also instructed the examination board to publish the results at the earliest.
The results of the students including those of the 16 ‘disputed’ students were published. The 16 students were awarded marks on a pro rata basis. “The university has the authority to publish the result by various methods under special circumstances. We will always ensure that the students’ interest is served,” said Prof. S.K. Sanyal, vice chancellor of JU.
The students were also happy with the decision. “All we wanted was our results. Given the circumstances, the university has done its best to help us,” said Diyasree Chattopadhyay, a PG-II student.
Mandal’s wife, Baishakhi Banerjee expressed surprise about the publishing of the results without the answer scripts. “My husband never wanted to hold up results but had objections against comments made in some answer scripts,” she said.
The university would now want to ‘rescue’ the 16 answer scripts. “We will do whatever the legal experts advice us in this mater,” said Sanyal. The Fact Finding Committee constituted by the university has already suggested a CID enquiry against Mandal. The case filed by Mandal against university authorities is scheduled to come up for hearing in Calcutta High Court on March 26.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

CU to help weather thunderstorms

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 23, 2007
Predicting the occurrence of thunderstorms that wreak havoc in the land, especially to farmers, has been a bone of contention among weather scientists. Now, experts promise to do just using sophisticated radar systems.
Severe afternoon thunderstorms, called kalbaisakhis or nor’westers have caused disaster on the eastern Gangetic plains since time immemorial. Now, under the programme — Severe Thunderstorms: Observation and Regional Modelling (STORM), Calcutta University (CU) has purchased a special radar which can study the nor’wester clouds and help meteorologists to predict the locality, time and intensity of the storms accurately.
STORM, a nationally coordinated programme was launched on April 15, 2006 and is being done jointly conducted by CU, IIT Kharagpur, regional metrology department, Indian Air Force and DST.
CU has purchased a mobile Doppler radar, which will chase the nor’wester cloud from the time of its origin. The radar costing over a crore can cover a 100 sq-km radius and will be mounted on a mini truck.
“The tropical storms like the kalbaisakhi are distinctly different from the thunder storms in European countries. But sadly, since most research done in India is based on the European thunderstorm, nor’westers cannot be predicted correctly. To predict the storms we will have to study its characteristics independently and that is what this mobile Doppler radar will help us to do,” said Sutapa Chaudhuri, head of atmospheric science and principal investigator of STORM.
“When you want to forecast nor’westers, you need to understand its dynamics otherwise, the forecast will not be accurate. And for the first time, we will come to know what is happening inside the cloud with the help of this radar. With the help of this information researchers would better understand when and where the nor’wester would strike,” said Chaudhuri.
The signals and images picked up by the mobile Doppler will be sent to the automatic mesonet network grid. These grids will further analyse the signal, which covers the most nor’wester-prone area between Kolkata and Asansol, and then will send it to the static Doppler radar over Secretariat Building in Kolkata.
“The nor’wester is a small-scale thunder storm which takes places within a small geographical area and for a very limited time period. If we do not have observatories in key areas, it becomes very difficult for metrologists to predict it. We will be studying the storm from this year. And if everything goes well, by 2009 the metrological department would be in a position to forecast the exact time, place and speed of the nor’westers,” said Chaudhuri.
To make students and researchers aware of how the nor’wester should be analysed, the atmospheric science department organised a 5-day basic training programme on thunderstorm research on March 12. “The objective was to create awareness among researchers about thunderstorms and analyse the physics, chemistry and numerical methods that goes behind it to make an accurate forecast,” said Chaudhuri.
mou.hindustantimes@gmail.com

Thursday, March 22, 2007

To entertain RTI cases CU to ‘mask’ the answer scripts

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 22, 2007
Calcutta University (CU) on Thursday took its initial steps to cope with various cases that might arise in the aftermath of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The Under Graduate Council of the university on Thursday, decided to ‘mask’ the answer scripts using code to prevent revealing the identity of students and examiners. The examiners from now on will have to write down his code number instead of signing the answer scripts. With the implementation of the RTI Act, students can demand to see their evaluated answer scripts.
“In such a case we cannot reveal the identity of the examiner, or his security might be jeopardised. To avoid such problems in the future the UG council decided to mask the answer scripts,” said Prof. Suranjan Das, Pro-Vice Chancellor (academic).
The students will have their roll numbers but the controller of examinations department will replace it with a code after the exam is over. This is just one step that the university has taken but the authorities will have to find answers to several other questions.
To do that the information officers of all the universities will meet in the second week of April. Das will coordinate the meeting and the report will be submitted to the chancellor of all the state universities, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi by the end of April. According to a high court order, the university has to keep answer scripts for 6 months after the result is published.
But what if a student wants to see his answer scripts after that time period? “We will have to decide for how long the university will be bound to show the answer scripts after the publication of results,” said Das. The universities will also explore whether they are bound to show the answer scripts to students if a request is filed citing the RTI Act.
Incidentally, on March 20, Gandhi had asked vice chancellors of all universities to decide on how would they address issues, which would come up post RTI Act.
Apart from the RTI issue, the Under Graduate Council took another important decision related to examinations. From now on, teachers will not be allowed to take answer scripts of general subjects back home for correction. Instead they would have to visit the zonal centre and evaluate the answer scripts there. The proposal for introducing new honours subjects in the Science stream was also accepted. However, the subjects would be decided in the next meeting.
As per UGC regulations, the university is bound to publish the results by June, and to do that, the university would have to implement few more changes in the examination system. And to do that the statute of the examination would have to be changed. But since the university body election notification has already been given, the statute can be changed only after a few months.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Report gives clean chit to JU girls

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 21, 2007

The report relating to the sexual harassment case filed by Monojit Mondol, lecturer of English at Jadavpur University (JU), has given a clean chit to the 16 students. The report, which was filed on Wednesday by the executive council meeting of the university, has recommended a CID enquiry at the ‘mystery’ behind Mondol’s complain.
Mondol had alleged that the students had written obscene words in their semester exam answer scripts and refused to submit them. The lecturer also alleged that his mobile phone was hacked and has filed a case with the Calcutta High Court alleging inaction on the part of the university.
The report has also asked the exam board to publish the results at the earliest. The executive council has also served a notice to Mondal to submit the 16 answer scripts within 24 hours.
The report has asked registrar Rajat Bandhyopadhyay to submit a report on Mondol’s activity, which lead to negligence of his duty as a teacher and maligning the name of the university. “I have submitted the report of the fact finding committee on Wednesday, the executive council has discussed it. We will ensure that justice prevails and the innocent do not suffer,” said registrar Rajat Bandhyopadhyay, who was in charge of the fact-finding committee.
The fact-finding committee has also alleged that Mondol did not cooperate during the enquiry. The report states that Mondol did not give his mobile phone to the university or to BSNL to investigate whether his phone was hacked. The BSNL has informed the university in writing that SIM cloning technology is not available in the city and to the best of their knowledge Mondol’s phone was not hacked. They have however pointed out that since the lecturer had not handed over his mobile phone, the hacking charge could not be pursued.
An executive council member said, “Mondol has not submitted the answer scripts which has made it impossible for the fact finding committee to do a forensic test and say who had written the obscene comments.”
The executive commission has asked Bandhyopadhyay to submit a report on Mondol’s negligence of duty. It will point out why Mondol had shown the answer scripts, which are confidential on television and why he has named some of the girls, who had allegedly written the obscene phrases in the answer scripts even when the charges against them were being investigated. The report will also point out harassment of the students, maligning of the university’s reputation in the media and non-submission of the answer scripts by Mondol.
The university has already sent a notice to Mondol urging him to submit the answer scripts. However, the lecturer is not ready to part with them. “The answer scripts is the university’s property, but according to our lawyer it can be kept with the petitioner if it becomes a crucial evidence in court. There is no question of returning the answer scripts,” said Baisakhi Banerjee, wife of Mondol.
mou.hindustantimes@gmail.com

Monday, March 19, 2007

Indigenous chip to help simulate the Big Bang

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 19, 2007
Another feather was added to cap of Indian science on Monday. The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) and Semiconductor Complex Ltd, Chandigarh along with Aligarh Muslim University have come up with India’s first indigenously designed and manufactured microchip.
The chip has been selected by the world’s largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva to be used in one of their crucial experiments. But there is more to the chip — it can also be used to detect cancerous tumours, and it will be cheaper and more accurate than many other processes.
The Multiplexed Analog Signal (MANAS) processor has been accepted as the best possible chip internationally and will be used in a project at CERN — the world's largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva. CERN will be studying what happened just 1 microsecond after the Big Bang. To study this phenomenon, CERN will simulate a ‘little bang’ in its laboratory, where MANAS will be used to scan and take 1000 snapshots per second of the collision in the laboratory with the help of the ALICE detector.
“The scientists will use the images to find out from where the particles are coming out and where it is going. Through this we will not only be able to find out how the earth evolved but will also be able to trace the evolution of the universe till date,” said Bikash Sinha, director of SINP.
Talking about the unveiling of the chip, Sinha said: “This country has always been known for its work in the software sector, but we have not been able to do much in hardware till now. This is the first sep towards indigenous chip development in India.”
The chip has already been tested in Singapore, France, Italy and Russia. “CERN is an extremely competitive place and only after it was okayed by top world scientists, was the chip accepted,” said Sinha.
SNIP has produced 110,000 chips already and the experiment at CERN is scheduled to begin from November this year. “We got the project in 1996. Apart from the project at CERN, this chip will be of help to mankind in many other areas,” said Sukalyan Chattopadhyay, head of department of High Energy Physics at SNIP and head of this project.
Each chip would cost $10, and it is 7mm x 7 mm in dimension and has 10,000 transistors in it. Another advantage of MANAS is that it has 16 channels, which means that it can pick up signals from 16 places.
The data resolving power achieved by MANAS chip is comparable to the best in the world, and can also be used for detection of cancerous tumours. “Sometimes even MRI and CAT scan cannot detect tissue tumours. Since MANAS is an extremely high power scanner it can detect them very easily. If used for medical scanning it will not only give accurate results but will even cost less for the patients. We are trying to market his chip for medical purpose too,” said Sinha. Apart from this, the chip can be used in airport scanners and other scanning devices.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Teachers’ turn to labour ministry

Mou Chakraborty,
Kolkata, March 17, 2007
In order to get job security and ensure gratuity and salary as recommended by the pay commission, teachers of private English medium schools are now turning to the union labour ministry. They are urging the government to include teaching under the ‘Industrial Disputes Act 1947.’
The state school education minister Partha De, is already framing a legislation to streamline management, students’ fee and salary of teaching and non-teaching staff of the private schools. “The government is making a law, but if we can come under the ‘Industrial Disputes Act 1947’ we will be protected and also entitled for gratuity,” said Leena Chatterjee, general secretary of forum for teachers & non-teaching staff of private schools.
The teachers complain that while the schools make massive profits, they do not bother to give proper salary to them. “Many established business houses have set up schools because it is extremely lucrative. They also get income tax exemption. The employers keep minting money by charging high fees from students, but when we ask for higher gratuity and job security, we are tagged as greedy. All this things are happening because we do not have any law protecting us,” said Chatterjee. They will now collect signatures from teachers of all private schools and send their application to the labour ministry by April.
Till date, the teachers are neither categorised as an employee or as a worker. A recent Supreme Court judgment had described teachers as people who do noble work to help society. “No one knows under what category the teacher should be slotted. This is a sad state of affairs and teachers are suffering because they do not have a union. The teachers should ensure that their employers do not cheat them,” said Gurudas Dasgupta, MP and general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
Incidentally, even painters and actors in Bengal have their associations. The forum will now also try to inspire teachers and non-teaching staff to have their union in every school so that their individual problems can be addressed collectively. “AITUC will uphold the cause of the teachers of private schools of Bengal in the Parliament and we would even appeal to the Prime Minister. We would do everything possible to ensure that the teachers get to know which category of working class they belong to,” said Dasgupta.
mou.hindustanimes@yahoo.com

Many absent from class-XI exams at Nandigram

Mou Chakraborty,
Kolkata, March 17, 2007
The class-XI exams conducted all over the state went through without any trouble, though around 136 students out of 1,314 from Nandigram did not turn up for the exams. The question being raised right now, is whether students from the area would be able to sit for the higher secondary examinations starting on March 19.
Needless to say, the main reason for this absence of students appearing for the class-XI exams is the tension surrounding Nandigram after the government crackdown there on March 15. Many students have lost their parents and near and dear ones, and do not feel they would be able to sit for the HS exam. There is also others, who are terrified about the March 15 incident and afraid to venture out of their homes. Imdadul Islam, an HS candidate from Garchokroberia High School, died of bullet injuries on March 15. He was fighting to save his fathers 2-bigha land, which was their only source of sustenance.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the Secondary Teachers & Employers Association today met Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and urged him to shift the exam center for the HS exam out of Nandigram. “What would have the HS Council done if a place was hit by a big natural disaster? They would have had to change the exam venue. The situation in Nandigram is not favourable for students, and we think it should be changed. The Governor too feels that the issue needs to be addressed,” said Ratan Lashkar, the associations’ ex-general secretary.
West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) officials did not agree. “The absence today was only one per cent of the total student’s strength taking the exam from there. This is normal especially when it is the class-XI exam. We do not feel this to a harbinger for the HS exam. We are not changing the exam centres at Nandigram for the HS exam,” said Dinen Munshi, deputy secretary (confidential) of WBCHSE.
The students and the teachers of IIT Kharagpur, too have reacted to the Nandigram incident. They have sent a letter to Chief Minster Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi condemning the incident. “We have no words to condemn this dastardly act. We express our solidarity with the brave villagers of Nandigram, in their hour of crisis,” said the letter. It further stated that the students and teachers were deeply distressed by the ‘murderous act of the police force’. The students also rejected the government’s logic of killing people in the name of restoring governance.
mou.hindustanimes@yahoo.com

Thursday, March 15, 2007

No CBSE exams today

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 15

CBSE students can breathe easy. Their board has rescheduled Friday’s Class X exams across West Bengal because of the bandh. The exams will now take place on April 7. Calcutta University and Rabindra Bharati University, too, have postponed Friday’s exams.
The higher secondary, ICSE and ISC exams scheduled for Friday had been cancelled on Wednesday itself. But the CBSE board had said it would be difficult for them to change the schedule for Bengal, as CBSE exams are conducted in over 20 countries. It finally accepted the request from all CBSE schools in Kolkata.
Otherwise, invigilators and class 4 staff in CBSE schools were planning to stay back in school on Thursday night. “Without them we cannot conduct exams,” said Mukta Nain, principal, Birla High School (Boys). “But what about students who stay far away? How would they have made it to school?” asked Anindita Chatterjee, principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Salt Lake. They are all relieved after the rescheduling.
ICSE and ISC students, however, are unhappy, as Friday’s paper for Bengal will now have to be reset. “These may not maintain parity with the question papers given to other students across the country on March 16,” said Prasenjit Mullick, of St. Thomas Boys School. Council authorities, however, said parity would be maintained.
The students are also unhappy that the exams would be over later and affect their holiday plans. “Everyone wants to get it off their chest. Unlike CBSE students, ISC and ICSE students do not know when the rescheduled examination will be held,” said G. Gomes, principal, Julian Day School.mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

State loses out Maritime University to Chennai

Chetan Chauhan & Mou Chakraborty
New Delhi, March 13, 2007

LAWMAKERS OF the CPI(M) and the DMK — two allies of the UPA government —came to blows in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the introduction of a Bill to set up India’s first maritime university in Chennai, instead of upgrading the existing Marine Engineering and Research Institute in Kolkata.
The Left Front wants such an upgrade as the institute at Taratala has trained students for decades, having been set up in 1949. The DMK, on the other hand, says Chennai is more suitable being closer to sea and 300 acres of land has already been allocated.
As the two groups fought, ministers tried to separate them — a job finally left to the marshals. The uproar caused five adjournments. Later, the ugly chapter was brought to a close with the CPI(M)’s leader in the House, Basudeb Acharya, tendering an apology. The CPI(M) also suggested opening of three national institutes of maritime excellence — one each in Chennai, Kolkata and in western India.
But the harm has been done. Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani had made the most of it. “I hope that with this civil war, the UPA government would finally come to an end. The government should do something more to prevent such a situation,” he said.
Bengal higher education minister Sudarsan Roy Chowdhury protested the decision to set up the university in Chennai. “The Kolkata institute is the country’s oldest and has the infrastructure to be upgraded. Why should it be bypassed?”
Institute director S. Mukhopadhyay said it was under the jurisdiction of the Union shipping ministry. “I do not have the authority to say where the proposed university should be set up,” he said.
Roy Chowdhury, however, had written a letter to the ministry last month asking for an upgrade, and plans to do so again asking it to reconsider its decision. He felt the Centre’s decision had been taken under pressure.
“Some MPs from Tamil Nadu wanted to reap political benefits from the decision. But such things cannot be done by depriving an institute that deserves an upgrade,” he said.
It was a CPI(M), Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who asked road transport minister T.R. Baalu of the the DMK to introduce the Bill. CPI(M) members led by Anil Basu protested, saying it was a breach of trust as they had registered their opposition with the Prime Minister. With members rushing into the well, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes.
When the House resumed and Baalu stood up to speak, Basu and CPI(M) member Shaumik Lahiri barged towards him and tried to snatch the papers from the minister. But they were blocked by minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam.
Other CPI(M) members rushed towards the well but were confronted by DMK members which resulted in jostling with both groups shouting at each other.
The House was adjourned three more times. Finally, it resumed at 2.45 pm when CPI(M) members agreed to the government’s proposal to refer the Bill to the standing committee.
Denouncing the episode, the Speaker asked the members to forget this ‘ugly chapter’ in the history of the House.
chetan@hindustantimes.com
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

JU fracas continues

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 13, 2007
The lecturer of Jadavpur University’s (JU) English department, Monojit Mandal on Tuesday, refused to submit the sixteen ‘disputed’ answer scripts of PG students to the university. The agitated students are now considering going to the chancellor of the university, governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and seek his help to ensure that the papers are rescued and results published at the earliest.
The students and teachers of the department submitted a joint memorandum to the vice chancellor in presence of other top authorities of the university asking him to rescue the answer scripts at the earliest and publish the results. On Monday, professor S.K. Shanyal, vice chancellor of the university had sent a letter to Mondol asking him to submit all the answer scripts by 11 am on Tuesday. But Mandal has decided not to part with the original answer scripts since that would become ‘crucial evidence’ when the case opens at High Court.
Mandal now suspects university authorities might consider suspending him for this act but feels that he had no other option. Mandal’s wife Baisakhi Banerjee said, “My husband has not submitted the original answer scripts but has sent a letter to the vice chancellor saying that he would be submitting the certified photocopies of the answers scripts if asked by the university.”
The university is now considering various options to rescue the answer scripts. Since Mondol’s holding on to the scripts is not a cognisable offence, the university would find it tough to get him arrested. Insiders also feel that it would be pointless to issue a search warrant. “We will now have to weigh the pros and cons before taking the next step. We are currently consulting legal experts to decide on our next course of action,” said Rajat Bandhyopadhyay, registrar of the university.
The Fact Finding Committee will submit its report in a day’s time and the VC has asked for a couple of days to decide on the next course of action. The students on the other hand are not very happy with the way the university has handled the incident and delayed the investigation process. They have informed the VC that they are considering reporting the matter to the chancellor.
“We are considering to go the chancellor very soon and submit in writing what is going on in the university and how the careers of the students are at stake. If required we would want to meet him in person and ask him to intervene and solve the matter,” said one of the students of the department on conditions of anonymity.
The students are also unhappy with the way Mandal has been dropping names of various female students in the media, accusing them of writing obscene messages in the answer scripts. “We are appalled by the way he has been targeting individual students in the media. We have urged the VC to ask him to desist from such activities. Moreover, unless what he says is proved he cannot accuse students in public,” said another student.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Monday, March 12, 2007

JU orders Prof. to return students answer scripts

Mou Chakraborty,
Kolkata, March 12
The situation in the English department at Jadavpur University came to a boil on Monday following allegations of sexual discrimination made by Monojit Mandal, a lecturer of the department. Things have come to a head, with university authorities ordering the lecturer to return the answer scripts. Mandal has alleged that students had written obscene messages, directed at him, in the answer scripts.
The vice chancellor of the university, prof. S.K. Sanyal has sent a letter to Mandal, asking him to submit the answer scripts, which is the property of the university on March 13 by 11 am or else the university would be taking appropriate action. Mandal’s wife Baisakhi Banerjee however said that no communication had reached her husband from the university in this regard.
The primary fact finding committee, headed by registrar Rajat Bandhyopadhyay will submit its report on the incident within the next two days. “Our report is ready. We have given our findings and suggestions in the report in detail. After going through it, our vice chancellor will decide the next course of action,” said Bandhyopadhyay.
The university has the power to allot marks on pro-rata basis or by conducting a re-examination. But the students are adverse to the idea of taking a re-examination. “We have taken the examination in the manner the university conducted it. Now why will some students be victimised and asked to take another examination. We would want the university to take the answer scripts from him and get it checked by our other teachers and publish the result at the earliest,” said Arnab Banerjee, a PG-I student.
The students would submit a deputation to the registrar on March 13, which will be supported by a letter from their head of the department Prof. Swapan Chakraborty. The students have also threatened to go to human rights commission. “The teacher concern has taken the names of girls in the media and giving statements about them writing sexually explicit comments in the answer script. We wanted to go to court, but now we have decided to go to human rights commission if the matter is not resolved,” said Banerjee.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Lesser students for this year’s HS exams

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 12, 2007
Compared to 2006, there will be 26,000 students less taking the Higher Secondary (HS) exam this year. If the HS authorities are to be believed, then there is nothing to worry about the drop as it apparently proves the efficiency of the system!
This year 4,03,154 students are taking the exam. Though the number is 26,000 less than 2006, the HS officials are happy about it. In 2005-2006, 86.57 per cent of Madhyamik pass-outs registered themselves to take the HS exam. This year, 85.47 per cent of the registered candidates are taking the exam and both the figures are an all-time record for the HS exams.
“We have never seen such a huge percentage of Madhyamik pass-outs getting registered for HS and this is an all-time record,” said Debashish Sharkar, secretary of West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE).
Explaining why there were lesser students taking the exam, even after the percentage of registration and enrolment had gone up Sharkar said, “One big reason for this is that, from this year we are not allowing external candidates to take the exam and students for vocational courses are taking the exam through a separate vocational education council created for this purpose.”
Apart from this, the number of previously unsuccessful candidates and special candidates too has gone down drastically. In 2006 the pass percentage in HS was 71.82, which is an all-time high, and in 2005 the percentage was 67.56. And while in 2005, 28 per cent of the backlog candidates cleared the exam, the percentage further increased to 34.7 per cent in 2006. Currently, the HS exam has the lowest ever backlog to regular candidate ratio – 25:75, which was 40:60 in the 80s.
“With the pass rate increasing in the past two years, we have very few compartmental and special candidates this year. This goes on to show the efficiency of the system and explains how the revised syllabus has worked wonders for our students,” said Sharkar.
Apart from this, another reason for decrease in the number of students this year is the strict detention policy adopted by schools in Class-XI annual exams. “After we had split the syllabus for Classes XI & XII, the council had urged schools to promote only deserving students to Class-XII. Between 15,000 to 20,000 students have been detained through this process,” said Sharkar.
But though the number of students taking the exam has gone down, logistically the HS exam for this year will be the most complex. “While a good number of students will take the exam following the old syllabus and will have two exams a day, those taking the exam under the new syllabus will have only one exam every day. Besides, the Class-XI exams will begin on March 17 and will go on simultaneously. To avoid confusion, we are putting the question papers of all the three segments in separate colour envelopes,” said Gopa Dutta, president of WBCHSE.
While the students will be allowed to carry non-programmable calculators, mobile phones are banned inside the exam venue. There are 326 exam centres and 1,112 exam venues spread across the state.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Lesser students for this year’s HS exams

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 12, 2007
Compared to 2006, there will be 26,000 students less taking the Higher Secondary (HS) exam this year. If the HS authorities are to be believed, then there is nothing to worry about the drop as it apparently proves the efficiency of the system!
This year 4,03,154 students are taking the exam. Though the number is 26,000 less than 2006, the HS officials are happy about it. In 2005-2006, 86.57 per cent of Madhyamik pass-outs registered themselves to take the HS exam. This year, 85.47 per cent of the registered candidates are taking the exam and both the figures are an all-time record for the HS exams.
“We have never seen such a huge percentage of Madhyamik pass-outs getting registered for HS and this is an all-time record,” said Debashish Sharkar, secretary of West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE).
Explaining why there were lesser students taking the exam, even after the percentage of registration and enrolment had gone up Sharkar said, “One big reason for this is that, from this year we are not allowing external candidates to take the exam and students for vocational courses are taking the exam through a separate vocational education council created for this purpose.”
Apart from this, the number of previously unsuccessful candidates and special candidates too has gone down drastically. In 2006 the pass percentage in HS was 71.82, which is an all-time high, and in 2005 the percentage was 67.56. And while in 2005, 28 per cent of the backlog candidates cleared the exam, the percentage further increased to 34.7 per cent in 2006. Currently, the HS exam has the lowest ever backlog to regular candidate ratio – 25:75, which was 40:60 in the 80s.
“With the pass rate increasing in the past two years, we have very few compartmental and special candidates this year. This goes on to show the efficiency of the system and explains how the revised syllabus has worked wonders for our students,” said Sharkar.
Apart from this, another reason for decrease in the number of students this year is the strict detention policy adopted by schools in Class-XI annual exams. “After we had split the syllabus for Classes XI & XII, the council had urged schools to promote only deserving students to Class-XII. Between 15,000 to 20,000 students have been detained through this process,” said Sharkar.
But though the number of students taking the exam has gone down, logistically the HS exam for this year will be the most complex. “While a good number of students will take the exam following the old syllabus and will have two exams a day, those taking the exam under the new syllabus will have only one exam every day. Besides, the Class-XI exams will begin on March 17 and will go on simultaneously. To avoid confusion, we are putting the question papers of all the three segments in separate colour envelopes,” said Gopa Dutta, president of WBCHSE.
While the students will be allowed to carry non-programmable calculators, mobile phones are banned inside the exam venue. There are 326 exam centres and 1,112 exam venues spread across the state.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

A business model and a love story in a dabba

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 12, 2007

It’s a love story, a lot of fun and serious business. And to talk about his dubbawala business model, Manish Tripathi, honorary director of Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Association (MTBSA), visited Kolkata on Monday, speaking at length to the best engineering and management brains in the country and 30 odd students and seven faculty members of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA. He spoke on how to become a great time manager and how to win the trust of the people, a factor extremely essential in business.
He was delivering a special lecture at Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur.
Addressing over 400 students in the Kalidas auditorium, Tripathi said, “Management theories may be good but they are jargon to us. We talk of computers but little do we realise that it replaces the value of the human workforce. I feel utilising the human capabilities are important. We have done that for the last 116 years and have been operating smoothly.”
He peppered his speech with anecdotes that also brought out the lighter side of this very serious business.
Asked if the dabbawalas would ever offer their services in Kolkata, Tripathi answered in the negative, saying frequent strikes called by the workers’ unions were a big deterrent. “We have seen how strikes have resulted in the closure of mills in Mumbai. We do not want that to happen,” said Tripathi. “Moreover Mumbai’s topography is such that the traffic moves in one direction and trains are easily available. But that is not the case with other cities.”
Many MBA students have done research on dabbawalas and have submitted recommendations to them. But the dabbawallas have never looked through the pages. Explaining to students their logistics and time management technique, Tripathi said, “All recommendations are gathering dust. We would like to follow our age-old method. Here in IIT, I am listening to the suggestions and recommendations of the students. They are the best brains of the country and it is a good opportunity to know what they think.”
The students were completely bowled Tripathi’s lecture. “Listening to his lecture and going through his power point presentation was a very humbling experience. We had guest lecturers from big universities but none of the lectures made so much sense to us. He is practical and experience driven. One can instantly understand his model,” said Joydeep Bhattacharya, a first year student.
He also spoke of how Prince Charles had invited his colleagues for his wedding. Traipthi also recounted how his ilk became a part of the love story of the newlywed couples by carrying their love letters in the tiffin box.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

A business model and a love story in a dabba

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 12, 2007

It’s a love story, a lot of fun and serious business. And to talk about his dubbawala business model, Manish Tripathi, honorary director of Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Association (MTBSA), visited Kolkata on Monday, speaking at length to the best engineering and management brains in the country and 30 odd students and seven faculty members of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA. He spoke on how to become a great time manager and how to win the trust of the people, a factor extremely essential in business.
He was delivering a special lecture at Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur.
Addressing over 400 students in the Kalidas auditorium, Tripathi said, “Management theories may be good but they are jargon to us. We talk of computers but little do we realise that it replaces the value of the human workforce. I feel utilising the human capabilities are important. We have done that for the last 116 years and have been operating smoothly.”
He peppered his speech with anecdotes that also brought out the lighter side of this very serious business.
Asked if the dabbawalas would ever offer their services in Kolkata, Tripathi answered in the negative, saying frequent strikes called by the workers’ unions were a big deterrent. “We have seen how strikes have resulted in the closure of mills in Mumbai. We do not want that to happen,” said Tripathi. “Moreover Mumbai’s topography is such that the traffic moves in one direction and trains are easily available. But that is not the case with other cities.”
Many MBA students have done research on dabbawalas and have submitted recommendations to them. But the dabbawallas have never looked through the pages. Explaining to students their logistics and time management technique, Tripathi said, “All recommendations are gathering dust. We would like to follow our age-old method. Here in IIT, I am listening to the suggestions and recommendations of the students. They are the best brains of the country and it is a good opportunity to know what they think.”
The students were completely bowled Tripathi’s lecture. “Listening to his lecture and going through his power point presentation was a very humbling experience. We had guest lecturers from big universities but none of the lectures made so much sense to us. He is practical and experience driven. One can instantly understand his model,” said Joydeep Bhattacharya, a first year student.
He also spoke of how Prince Charles had invited his colleagues for his wedding. Traipthi also recounted how his ilk became a part of the love story of the newlywed couples by carrying their love letters in the tiffin box.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Its raining money at IIMC campusing

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 11, 2007
It’s pouring money at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC). Raking it in are its students picked for final placements. The highest salary offered this year is $250,000 or Rs. 1,12,50000 per annum, the biggest pay packet offered to any IIM till date.
The offer has come from an investment bank that wants two IIMC students for its New York desk. The highest foreign salary offered last year was $152,000.
This year’s second-highest salary, £120,000 or Rs. 1 crore 8 lakh, too, has gone to two students both of whom will have to work on the bank’s London desk. “This year we have four students with a salary of over Rs. 1 crore per annum. It’s also the highest offer ever made to any IIM student. IIMC specialises in finance and it’s investment banks that are coming to us with the biggest offers. This shows we are the country’s best when it comes to finance,” said Sarfaraz Khimani, a first-year student and external relations secretary of the institute.
All four students with Rs 1 crore-plus salaries have two years’ work experience. But they feel more than experience it is education at IIMC education that is working wonders for them.
And it’s not just the highest foreign salaries that have seen 70 per cent growth this year. Domestic salaries too have seen 100 per cent rise. From last year’s Rs 23 Lakh it has shot to Rs 43 Lakh per annum. The offer has come from a foreign investment bank for a position in Mumbai. But what is so special about IIMC? ING spokesman Rajesh Sethi is candid. “We came here expecting to find world-class talent and we saw our expectations surpassed.”
The other good news for IIMC students is that unlike anywhere else and ever before, the four students offered highest foreign salaries have also been offered associate positions by their recruiters.
This brings Indian business graduates on par with graduates from US B-Schools like Harvard not just in terms of salaries but also in terms of the roles offered. Joining as associates will give the students at least a two-year head start over others. “Indian B-School pass-outs would never be made associates. The position always went to students from Harvard, Stanford and Wharton. This year we have proved that IIMC students can get global-level placements,” said Khimani.
The queue is getting longer.
There were 17 slot-zero companies last year, this year it has gone up to 21. And exclusive recruiters at IIMC include JP Morgan Chase, BNP Paribas, Sun Group (Private Equity) and Optiver. Among the first-time recruiters were Barclays Capital, ING (Netherlands), Bain Consulting, Trikona (Real Estate and Private Equity), CIC (Real Estate and Private Equity), Value Partners (Strategy Consulting) and Optiver (Market Maker). Apart from them, IIMC’s regular recruiters include Mckinsey, Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Merill Lynch, Barclays Capital, UBS and Deutsche Bank. That’s great going.

(mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com)

Saturday, March 10, 2007

JU Prof. Defends his case

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 10, 2007
Monojit Mondol, a lecturer of English at Jadavpur University who has alleged sexual harassment by 16 students, on Saturday said he has been a victim of jealousy and casteism on the campus.
“Not only sexual harassment, but I have also been subjected to criminal assault,” said Mondol. “Students and university officials have been sending letters to my wife and me threatening with our lives and have also hacked into my cellphone. The matter is being investigated by the CID,” said Mondol.
Mondol claims obscene remarks were written by the students in the answer scripts. The remarks were inserted between lines and on separate sheets stapled with the answer papers. But why is the professor crying harassment? Mondol says, “We lead an affluent life which many do not like. They want to defame me and want me to leave the university.”
Mondol has also moved the high court and has held back the offending answer scripts, delaying the results of all students of the MA (optional) exam. “I submitted photocopies of the answer scripts in question. But the university has neither taken any step nor given me any letter urging me to deposit the answer scripts.”
As for the delayed results, Mondal is not worried. “It is the headache of the university to publish the results, not mine. I am only bothered about the 16 answer scripts.”
But why did he not submit the scripts? “The moment I show it, the student would have gone to the sexual harassment cell saying I had written the comments.” Registrar Rajat Bandopadhyay has said that the university was conducting an inquiry. He did not say anything about asking Mondol for the answer scripts.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Friday, March 9, 2007

Teacher in JU cry sexual harassment, hold up result

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 9, 2007

A LECTURER of Jadavpur University has protested against sexual harassment by 16 students, most of them girls. He alleges they have made him the target of obscene messages — not by SMS but on their answer-scripts.
Monojit Mondol, who teaches English, has protested in three ways. First, he filed a complaint of sexual harassment with the university authorities. Next, he moved High Court accusing the authorities of not taking action. Finally, he has kept the offending answer-scripts with himself and, as a result, delayed the results of 120 students of the MA (optional) exam.
Only 16 of the answer-scripts, most of them of girls, contained the allegedly obscene messages. Among the things Mondol finds obscene are lines quoted from Blake’s poetry. Also, he alleges, students scribbled obscene words.
Mondol bypassed the head of his department and went directly to the registrar, accusing the students of making “obscene comments with sexual implications” and alleging that the comments were addressed to him. Registrar Rajat Bandopadhyay forwarded his complaint to the university’s sexual harassment cell. “We are conducting an inquiry and would not like to comment till it is over,” he said.
Though Mondol has retained only 16 answer-scripts, the result of the entire batch has been delayed. The students were from both the first and second years of the PG course; the optional subject was Modernity and Poetry. The semester exam was held in December and the results should have been out in January. The university could have published the results of 100-odd students, but the students urged the authorities not to put these out till the scripts of the 16 accused were also obtained.
Second year students are the worst hit. The final semester ends in May, after which many of them would look for courses and jobs outside the state. A further delay could make them ineligible.
“The applications of many of us in foreign universities are on hold due to non-availability of result,” said a student, who did not wish to be named.
The lecturer has not shown the original answer-scripts but has sent photocopies to university officials. “We are trying to get back the answer-scripts, which are university property,” the registrar said.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Management education packed in a lunch box

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 8, 2007

They deliver lunchboxes to thousands of offices from Mulund to Marine Drive and Virar to Victoria Terminus. They are punctual, zero-error and methodical. The dabbawallas of Mumbai will now share with IIT students the secret of their clockwork precision.
Members of the Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (MTBSA) will visit the Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM) at IIT, Kharagpur, on Monday to deliver a special lecture on logistics and supply chain management. The audience will not only include students and teachers of the engineering and management sections of IITKgp, but also to 30 students and 7 faculty members from University of Nabraska Omaha, US.
“The Mumbai dabbawallas have been a world-famous case study. How they operate with virtually no logistics is what amazes the whole world. In our management textbooks, we can only teach students certain theories and how those can be applied. But these people can show how logistics problems are solved in reality. This will not only be a learning experience for our students but also for the students from Nabraska University,” said professor Probir K Gupta, dean of VGSOM.
The Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (MTBSA) is a streamlined 120-year-old organisation of 5,000 semi-literate members that serves two lakh customers every day — collecting lunch boxes from their home, delivering them in office and back home.
Mistakes rarely happen in the dabbawallas’ elegant logistics system that uses 25 km of public transport, 10 km of footwork and multiple transfer points. According to a Forbes 1998 article, one mistake for every eight million deliveries is the norm. “How do they achieve virtual six-sigma quality with zero documentation by just sorting the tiffin boxes to few central points and through a simple colour coding which determines packet routing and prioritising is what the students can learn from them,” Gupta said.
Not surprising then that the students of VGSOM are excited about the lecture. “It is amazing how these semiliterate people run a supply chain with a Rs 30-crore turnover. Their market credibility, teamwork and time management is amazing. They use difficult management theories only found in books,” said Joydeep Bhattacharya, a first-year student.
The students would also get to learn how such a big organisation works without any internal rivalry. “One of the main reasons for 5,000 people working without friction is the way our system operates and also the recruitment process followed by us. We are all descendants of Shivaji’s soldiers and believe in employing people from our own community,” said Manish Tripathy, honorary director of MTBSA, who will be coming to IITKgp for the lecture.
The dabbawallas would also discuss with the students of VGSOM and Nabraska Omaha how to improve their brand positioning. The dabbawallas’ association had been picked by Microsoft in February for a campaign to spread awareness about the benefits of genuine Windows software. The organisation has also launched a website for online booking.
“We have delivered lectures at various educational institutions and industrial organisations. By showing interest in us, Prince Charles and Virgin Atlantis chairman Sir Richards Branson has given us a lot of publicity. We do not have any knowledge but only experience, which we share with others. We would also like the management students in Kolkata to give us some inputs on how to improve our brand value,” Tripathy said.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

PPTI students on fast unto death

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 7, 2007
At least 25 students of Primary Teachers Training Institutes (PTTI) declared illegal in the state are fasting unto death.
On June 16, the high court had declared all 136 PTTIs in the state illegal because none of them had affiliation from the National Council for Teachers Training (NCTE) which was mandatory. With that, the degrees of over 59,000 passouts were rendered invalid and examination of 16,000 students were stopped. “Though the higher education department resolved the problem of the BEd colleges by negotiating with the NCTE, the school education department filed a suit at the Calcutta High court demanding right to affiliation to PTTIs. That case is pending almost a year on, and so are our exams,” said Pintu Parui, general secretary of West Bengal Primary Teachers Training Students Union (WBPTTISU).
Along with member students of the union, the students’ wings of the CPI (AISF), of the RSP (PSU) and of the Forward Bloc (AISP), the Chhatra Parishad and the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad too have joined in the hungerstrike in front of Esplanade Metro station.
On Thursday, representatives of WBPTTISU will meet HRD minister Arjun Singh and the chairman of the NCTE in New Delhi. The same day, students of PTTI will go to the Assembly and urge MLAs to address their plight. “We met state school education minister Partha De but he could not help us. So we will be meeting Arjun Singh and will also go to NCTE. Since the state has not been able to solve our problem despite the mistake affecting the future of over 75,000 students, we will approach the Centre,” said Parui.
Though the union had urged the SFI to join the hungerstrike, the request was turned down. “They are the largest students’ organisation in the state and any help from them would be appreciated,” said Parui.
The state president of the SFI, Sudip Sengupta, along with a delegation of PTTI students met the school education minister on Wednesday and urged him to make the students a party to the lawsuit so that they too can talk about their problem in the courtroom. The minister has agreed to the proposal. “We want the problem to be addressed as quickly as possible and that will not be done if the case is not wrapped up quickly. We have urged the state government to act after considering the future of so many students,” said Sengupta.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

JU becomes a no smoking zone

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 7, 2007

Jadavpur University authorities are determined to smoke out cigarettes from the campus. Come April and libraries, laboratories, workshops and heritage buildings of the university will turn into non-smoking zones. Sale and distribution of cigarettes as well as tobacco advertisements will be prohibited on the campus.
The executive council of JU took the decision in response to a circular issued by the UGC. “Everyone knows that cigarette smoking is injurious to health. But until we take some concrete steps, we will not be able to sop it. And UGC too wants the institutions of higher learning to become non-smoking areas. Hence, we took the first step in this direction on Wednesday,” said professor Partha Pratim Biswas, a member of the executive council.
While CU had stopped buying, selling and distributing of cigarettes on the university premises, it had not marked any part of the campus as non-smoking. JU has gone a step ahead and tagged the administrative block Aurobindo Bhavan and the chemical engineering building, both heritage structures, as non-smoking areas. The ban on smoking is applicable to students, teachers, non-teaching employees, university officials as well as visitors.
“Getting students and teachers to obey the rules may be comparatively easy, but the tough part would be to make the officials and non-teaching employees to abide by them too. By making the administrative block a non-smoking area, the university will have to take on this tough task,” a senior official of the university said.
Smoking will, however, be permitted on the rest of the campus but buying and selling of cigarettes or distributing them to anyone will be strictly prohibited on all corners of the campus and within a 100-yard radius. Even advertisements of tobacco products will be banned within the university limits.
At present, some canteens on the campus do sell cigarettes, though discreetly. “None of the canteens in the university will be allowed to sell cigarettes,” Biswas said. “There are many stalls around the university and all those shops will have to stop selling cigarettes. We have asked the state government to take appropriate steps in this regard.”
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

NIFT going global with job placements

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 6, 2007
Today the nation, tomorrow the world. This is the new mantra adopted by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in getting its students placements all across the globe.
This new policy is being adopted by all 7 centres of NIFT in the country, targeting mainly, Europe, UK, US, Egypt, Bangladesh, Thailand and Hongkong as destinations for its graduating students.
“Every centre has been given the responsibility to explore placement opportunities for students in certain countries. The Kolkata branch has been given the responsibility to look for job opportunities in Bangladesh, Thailand and Hongkong,” said Shantmanu, director of NIFT, Kolkata.
Explaining the reason behind NIFT going global with its placements, SS Ray, associate professor & regional industry coordinator, NIFT Kolkata, said, “Our students are extremely talented. Many reputed textile companies; garment retailers and designers all over the world look to hire our students. But there has been no direct initiative on our part, forcing many to take the long route. In this age of globalisation and tough competition we will have to present our students to the global market in a manner that brings global recognition of their talents and enhances the institute’s reputation. Besides we do not want our students to miss out on the opportunity of working in an international environment.”
The final placements of fourth-year students is over and big firms based in Dubai, Hongkong, Paris and Sri Lanka has already picked up 31 students from the batch of 140 at NIFT, Kolkata. “We are going to other countries to study the job market and explore opportunities for our students. We are trying to understand the needs of foreign recruiters and invite them to our campus,” said Ray.
Students of all undergraduate streams – fashion designing, textile designing, leather designing and knitwear designing will be getting this opportunity. NIFT is also extending this opportunity to postgraduate students from the Fashion Management Studies department.
“The placement in NIFT is done centrally through our Delhi branch. So all students will get an equal opportunity when it comes to international or national placements,” said Ray.
NIFT would plans to send its students for offshore internships. “International internship assignments will not only help the students to learn more, understand their market and earn some foreign currency but if they can make a mark they could also bag a plum job with the company during the final placements,” said Ray.
According to NIFT officials, the salary in international placements will also be atleast four times that offered by Indian companies. Apart from internships, NIFT would also send its students to foreign universities to complete one module as part of a student-exchange programme. Tie-ups with several European institutions are being looked into.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Monday, March 5, 2007

Academicians to debate Knowledge Commission report

Drimi Chaudhuri and Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 5, 2007
A year after the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) submitted its report on recommendations to improve the education system; Scottish Church College has taken the first steps towards exploring its full potential. The city-based college is gearing up to host a congregation of academicians from across India for a conference on the NKC report and its effects on higher education.
J. Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College said that it would be the first ever conference on the National Knowledge Commission report. Being held in the college premises on March 24 and 25, the University Grant Commission (UGC) is providing the funds to organise the National Conference on Knowledge Commission Report and Higher Education in India. “We have invited UGC Chairman S.K. Thorat to inaugurate the conference. We are aiming to sensitise higher education institutes in eastern India to become aware of NKC’s activities. We expect around 150 delegates from various institutions across the country to attend the conference,” Abraham said.
Professor Ashok Burman, convenor and the college’s economics department head said that the conference is being organised under the aegis of his department. “We have invited Sudhanshu Bhushan, senior fellow and in-charge of higher education at the New Delhi-based National University of Educational Planning & Administration as the keynote speaker and Professor Farooq Qamar of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) as the special speaker,” he said. While state higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury would be the chief guest, Suranjan Das, pro-vice chancellor (academics) of Calcutta University, would attend as a special invitee, along with several members of the All India Federation of University & College Teachers’ Organisations, he informed.
The conference takes particular significance, with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee criticising the NKC while inaugurating the 14 Bengal Science Congress on February 28. “The commission has largely failed to fulfil our expectations. We still do not know how much progress we have made or we need to make in terms of science and technology. There is no set target,” he had said. According to the conference organisers, the forthcoming symposium aims at accessing the present situation of higher education in eastern India.
NKC, a commission led by Sam Pitroda, is a high-level advisory body to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society. It covers sectors ranging from education to e-governance in the five focus areas of knowledge paradigm, including easy access to knowledge, all levels and forms of education, effective creation of knowledge, applications of knowledge systems and services like e-governance. NKC has been given a mandate to guide policy and direct reforms, focusing on key areas like education, agriculture, industry, science & technology and e-governance.
drimi.chaudhuri@hindustantimes.com
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Bid to make street food hygienic

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 4, 2007
Street food gives cities its particular colour and flavour. Can anyone imagine Kolkata without its roll shops or phuchkawallahs? But the common grouse among many residents is the cleanliness of the food. To tackle this problem, students and teachers of Smt. JD Birla Institute is busy sensitising street food vendors of Kolkata about nutrition and hygiene.
The awareness drive is part of a World Bank project, which is being implemented by the government of India. The project aims to ensure the safety and quality of food for Indians. Sixteen institutes in the country are working on the project and Smt. J. D. Birla Institute has been chosen as the nodal institute for eastern India.
“We will be documenting the present condition of street food vendors, their hygiene levels and will also train them to overcome their draw backs,” said Dipali Singhee, principal of the institute.
The institute has chosen vendors from Theatre Road, Park Circus, Victoria Memorial, Tangra, Vardan Market and Park Street to start off the programme.
“Street food vendors are an important part of Kolkata. They serve almost half the office-going population every day, which also includes a large number, who travel to the city from adjacent districts. Thus, it is extremely important to make the vendors quality conscious. This would include personal hygiene and checking the nutritional value of the food on offer,” said Singhee.
The institute has got Rs 2 crore for the 2-year project, which has been divided, into 3 phases. In the first phase of the Project, the objective will be to identify indicators on the awareness, attitude and practices related to food hygiene and safety through an extensive survey. The next parts of the project include talking to the steet vendors and classify and categorise their problems.
“We have found five main problems among the street food vendors of the city – lack of food hygiene, unit hygiene, personal hygiene, environmental hygiene (including fuel and nutrition) and health practices,” said Lilu Mancha, principal investigator of the project.
To begin with, there will be 26 intervention programmes, held over 15 days, 2 hours per day. Each batch will train 25 street food vendors. Lectures on nutrition, health and hygiene practices followed by demonstrations will be given to the vendors. “Surprisingly we got good response from the street food vendors. Most of them felt strongly about improving their food quality and presentation skill to increase sales,” Mancha said.
There are plans to give the vendors separate training specialising on the kind of food they sell like jhal muri, puri – aloo, ghoogni, chowmein, roll and dosa. “Often we see that they use bad quality chicken, use two tubs for washing utensils and cook the food in an unclean kadhai or tawa. We are trying to change their mentality. However different vendors have different problems, so we will have to give them individual attention,” added Mancha.
But the task is huge as there are over 1-lakh vendors in Kolkata who need to be sensitised. “We will not be able to sensitise all of them. But those coming to us are being encouraged to wear aprons, cap and gloves to maintain personal hygiene. We are also teaching them to maintain food quality. With the state government refusing to recognise them they have become desperate to improve themselves to maintain their existence,” said Mancha.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Friday, March 2, 2007

CU racing against time for publishing results

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 2, 2007

After the Assembly elections sent the Calcutta University (CU) examination schedule haywire last year, this time it is a UGC directive on early publication of results that has left the varsity fighting for time.
The UGC on Monday asked all universities and colleges across the country to adopt a uniform academic calendar and asked them to publish all undergraduate and postgraduate results by the last week of June so that classes could begin by the first week of August. The order was issued after the Supreme Court asked the UGC to bring parity in the academic calendar of all universities.
But the CU feels it is impossible to implement the order this year and has sought a year’s time. “We will have to reschedule all our exams so that they are held at least one-and-a-half months ahead. After the Assembly elections last year, our exam calendar went haywire, we would need at least a year to put things in place. I have urged the UGC to allow us to follow the rule from 2008,” said Suranjan Das, pro vice-chancellor (academic) of CU and a member of UGC.
The biggest challenge for CU would be to publish the third-year undergraduate results by June. According to the university’s academic calendar, the final exam of first year is held in June, for second year in July and for third year in April. The university takes at least two months to publish the results.
CU officials said it would be impossible to check the answer-scripts, tabulate and publish the third-year results by June. One of the main reasons is the huge number of students. There are about 1,10,000 students studying in 160 colleges under CU. The matter has already been discussed at a UGC meeting on Tuesday.
The university has decided to strictly ensure that colleges do not admit extra students. Bonga College, for instance, admitted 120 honours students when it had permission for admitting 75. “Many colleges exceed the number of intake they have been permitted by us. We have already put a check on it and uploaded all the data in our computers. From this year, we will showcause colleges that exceed the limit,” said Das.
Das promised to raise the matter in the next UGC meeting in Delhi on March 5. “We appreciate the Supreme Court’s decision as it will create more mobility for the students who want to shift from one university to another. But the Supreme Court should also stop the Election Commission from using college buildings during elections,” Das said.
To implement the UGC order from 2008, the university is also thinking of introducing spot evaluation for elective subjects. “We will have to think of introducing spot evaluation in certain subjects to ensure all the results are published in time. Since the controller of exams department will get a separate building by next year, we hope the logistics will be in place,” Das said. The undergraduate council will again discuss the matter on March 22.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Union budget makes state see red

Mou Chakraborty and Aloke Banerjee
Kolkata, March 1, 2007

The state is not happy with the budget.
Speaking at the Satyapriya Ray birth centenary celebration organised by the All Bengal Teachers Association, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the budget shows that the Centre is trying to shed its responsibility in the education sector. “From the numbers projected in the budget, it is clear that the Centre wants to shed its responsibilities towards education. No state government can accept it,” he said. Bhattacharjee is particularly unhappy with the money allotted to Sarva Shiksha Avijan (SSA).
While the allocation on education has been increased by 34.2 per cent to Rs 32,352 crore, the allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has gone up to Rs 10,671 crore. But despite the hike in the budgetary allocation in education, the government feels that because of the Free and Compulsory Education Bill, the budgetary provision of SSA will not reach the states.
The budgetary provision in secondary education will also not reach the state and will be restricted to schools run by the central government. “Education is in the concurrent list and the Centre cannot shy away from its monitory responsibility. But now it seems they are more interested in exercising their control rather than spending money,” said Biswas.
According to Bhattacharjee, the state will carry on with its programme of development in the education sector. “We have done a mapping of schools and colleges and according to that we will open new educational institutions,” the chief minister said.
The higher education minister Sudarshan Ray Chaudhury also joined in the criticism by saying that research and development has been neglected, especially in the context of Bengal. “There was no mention of budgetary allocation to the Bose Institute, Indian Institute for Cultivation of Science and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research. These institutes are doing an excellent job and need the Centre’s support”, Ray Chaudhury told Hindustan Times.
The higher education minister also expressed dissatisfaction at Calcutta University not receiving the special grant of Rs 100 crore promised by the finance minister in his Budget for 2006-07. “There was no mention of that grant this time. We are disappointed,” added Ray Chaudhury.
Chidambaram’s measure to contain the dropout rate at schools by creating a special corpus of Rs 750 crore with the State Bank of India and offering Rs 1 lakh scholarship, also drew a lukewarm response from the school education minister Partha De.
“The finance minister has offered the scholarships to students from Class VIII onwards. But the modalities are not known. However, the maximum drop-outs happen when children go from Class I to Class II and from Class V to Class VI,” De added.
Meanwhile, the information technology minister Debesh Das has expressed concern over the imposition of taxes on the IT companies in the Union budget, which were to enjoy zero tax benefits till 2009.
Das told HT on Thursday that Bhattacharjee had urged the Centre to extend tax benefits even beyond 2009. “Far from extending the tax benefit period, the Centre has imposed 11.3 per cent tax on profit. While the big companies will be able to cope with the tax, the smaller companies and particularly the call centres and BPOs will be hard hit,” Das said.
The minister also wondered why the new Special Economic Zones set up after 2005 were allowed tax exemption in the budget, while the small IT and ITeS companies, which generate maximum employment, were targeted.
Das also criticised the decision to tax company shares enjoyed by senior IT officials. “Offering shares was one of the methods to retain senior executives. Now the opportunity will be lost as it has come under fringe benefit tax,” he lamented.
The minister also expressed concern over imposition of taxes on rented space being used by IT companies. “Maximum growth in our state has occurred on rented spaces. Now even such spaces will be taxed,” he said.
Mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
alokebanerjee@hindustantimes.com

Student unrest unabated at Presidency

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 1, 2007
Unrest in Presidency College surrounding the students’ union elections continued today. The Independents’ Consolidation (IC) along with students of Medical College and Jadavpur University took out a rally on Thursday protesting against the decision of the election tribunal to postpone the panel election by 15 days.
The rally, which started from College Street, went through Amherst Street, B.B. Ganguly Road and concluded at Medical College. Earlier, Promod Gupta, a second-year student had been reported missing since February 28. The SFI had claimed that IC had kidnapped the student, but in an anti-climax Gupta was traced on Thursday.
A resident of Bauria in Howrah, Gupta had been arrested on Wednesday in Tikia Para station for alleged eve-teasing and travelling without a valid ticket. He also allegedly tried to bribe the police for which he was put inside the lock-up and released on Thursday morning. SFI supporters in the college have remained tight-lipped about the incident.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com

JU to launch FM channel

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 1, 2007

There’s good news for those who can’t stop riding from FM wave to FM wave and still wish there were more. Come June, a whole new wave will rise and hit the air from Jadavpur University.
The fare will contain the usual mix of everything from classical music and Hindi and Bengali film songs to Bangla band hits and rarely heard numbers picked from private albums. But unlike other FM stations, it will have one-hour counselling sessions every week where students can phone-in and ask questions. There will also programmes on pollution control, women’s studies and airtime for folk culture with programmes by students of Bengali, English and Comparative Literature. Many students proposed radio plays.
“We certainly cannot be a commercial radio but we will present very interesting programmes. Almost all our departments have come up with interesting ideas,” said Prof. Nilanjana Gupta, director of media communication and culture, JU.
“The studio will be housed in Gandhi Bhavan, which is being rebuilt for the purpose. Interesting seminars and other programmes will be broadcast live through this channel,” she said.
To be launched at an initial cost of Rs 20 Lakh, the community radio station will educate listeners within a 10 km radius covering Sonarpur, Salt Lake, Tollygunge, Park Street and Chowringhee and redefine infotainment for them.
“We wanted to start it three years ago. But there were problems of getting the logistics right and the getting Centre to allot an FM frequency. Now that the I&B ministry has relaxed its terms and wants to give licence to more and more community FM radio stations, we are going ahead,” Gupta said.
Financed from the Centre’s Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) fund, the channel will meet its running costs with revenue from ads aired on behalf of the state and central governments as well as local business houses.
The university has asked students to come up with a ‘catchy’ name and a slogan that that will sum up the project’s goal. The university is doing a listeners’ survey among students within the station’s reach. The findings will determine the final shape of the programme content. Music will not be problem. Saregama-HMV has agreed to let the station play its numbers for free. The university is also talking to other big record labels. As for hosting the programmes, some former students who have made it big as RJs will train up the current crop of students. Webel will provide the technical support. All you will need to do is just tune in.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com