Archive for category: States

Chandigarh October 10, 2024

For Detailed

The Department of Education and CALEM, Panjab University(PU), Chandigarh today organised a special lecture on “Surveillance in The Class: Should Parents Monitor the Classroom?” at PU.

Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty, Sri Aurobindo Chair, Panjab University, delivered the lecture in the presence of Prof. Kuldip Puri who chaired the session. Prof. Kuldip Puri honoured the speaker by presenting a bouquet and Prof. Satvinderpal welcomed the speaker and Prof. Puri through extended introduction.

Prof. Mohanty addressed the issue of surveillance, recognizing its benefits for student safety but questioning its impact on students’ freedom to learn and socialise. He reflected on the Gurukul system and Western boarding schools, where trust between parents and teachers minimised interference. However, he noted that today’s teachers face pressure under parental surveillance, often being asked to do more while receiving lower salaries and lower social status. This surveillance, driven by parents’ desire to be involved in teaching, can strip students of their freedom and trust in teachers. He mentioned that Indian schools are less concerned with what should be taught, where memorization is emphasized over conceptual learning. This, he argued, leads to parental concern and over-monitoring, ultimately diminishing student autonomy.

Prof. Mohanty said that the research studies show that there is a disadvantage of surveillance though the assumptions are that it is helpful. He stressed the point that “no men or women would want to be under surveillance”, it is a violation of privacy. He shared his worries that surveillance is good in terms of safety but it creates pressure that students can succeed in starting semesters but deteriorate their mental health. Prof. Mohanty advocated for dialogue between parents and teachers as an alternative to surveillance, both before and after classes.

During the Q&A session, serious discussions were raised about the role of parental surveillance. Prof. Satvinderpal emphasised the purpose of education, and Prof. Kuldip Puri concluded by suggesting that “surveillance” should be replaced by “observation and supervision,” as the former term is more fitting for crime-related contexts. He also stressed the need to restore trust between teachers and parents.

Prof. Latika Sharma, Prof. Nandita Singh, Prof. Kuldeep Singh, Prof. Amritpal, the principal, and the staff of Ankur Public School were present and actively participated in the session.

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Chandigarh October 9, 2024

For Detailed

PU Vice Chancellor Prof. Renu Vig today inaugurated the dedicated reading hall and Book-Scanner for PU faculty and research scholars of Panjab University Chandigarh at the ground floor of its A.C. Joshi Library. With this a longstanding demand of PU faculty members and research scholars for ‘a separate space for using Manuscripts, Rare Books, Maps, Historical Gazetteer, Historical Photographs, and Government Reports etc.’ has been  fulfilled.

PU Library houses as many as 1500 manuscripts, 40 thousand rare books, important newspaper collection (since 1952), maps, historical gazetteer, historical photographs, and government reports etc. These are primary sources particularly for Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Education, Inter-faith studies as well as Linguistic research. A high-end Book-Scanner has also been installed to convert these rare archival documents into digital/electronic documents which may facilitate multiple access to the same document in the one hand and to minimize the damage to the original Manuscript/Rare Books and other documents on the other.

Last year, UGC Chairman Prof M.Jagadesh Kumar made a visit to the Cell and found these collections aptly managed and hoped these could be used for the linguistic research and re-visiting history. NAAC team, while a visit to the Cell, also found these collections invaluable and praised for excellent management and up keeping of these records. However, it was felt that these needs to be opened for use of the PU scholars and beyond for qualitative research.

Earlier, the PU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Vig had also felt the need to provide adequate space to faculty and research scholars of Panjab University, foreign scholars and scholars from other universities and institutions for larger focus on the history and related documents being preserved at Archival Cell. Therefore, a seating capacity of around 50 faculty members and research scholars have been created in the first stage with facility to use laptop and other electronic equipment.

A high-end Book-Scanner has also been installed to convert the available rare archival documents into digital/electronic documents, which may facilitate multiple access to the same document in the one hand and to minimize the damage to the original Manuscript/Rare Books and other documents on the other.

Dr. Mritunjay Kumar, Incharge, Archival Cell, on behalf of all the staff members, thanked the PU Vice-Chancellor for her support to the project. This new facility will be very helpful to the research for their intended research based upon the documentation of Archival Cell, he added.

Prof. Savita Bhatnagar, Director, RDC & University Librarian (Additional Charge), Prof. Harsh Nayyar, Ex-Director, RDC, Prof. Y.P. Verma, Registrar, Panjab University, Prof. Amarjit Singh Naura, President PUTA, various faculty members and research scholars were also present on the occasion.

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