The Hindu : A principal honour, indeed!

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

A principal honour, indeed!

It was a honour which came to the principal of the Fatima College, Ignatius Mary.

She has received a communication from the All India Association for Christian Higher Education (AIACHE) that she has been selected one of the 10 best principals for 2003-2004 to receive the Dr. Sam Higginbottom Award for Best Principals, instituted by the Allahabad Agricultural Institute (Deemed University), to recognise their services to the institution and students.

Dr. Sam Higginbottom was a missionary scientist, who founded the Allahabad Institute (Deemed University), in 1910. The award carries Rs 10,000 in cash and a citation.

The State-level inter-collegiate competition, `SIZZLERS 2003-2004', conducted by the Fatima College Department of Master of Computer Applications, turned out a purposeful occasion for students to keep abreast of the latest in the ever-changing Information Technology field.

Software professionals dwelt on the current trends in the IT world and on how to survive in the changing world. They made the students ponder over why no software has been contributed by India for worldwide use, despite being bracketed among the countries dominating the IT sector.

The event, held on Sunday, was also replete with several competitions, including @MAZE, Topic Propaganda etc., and various games were conducted in between to encourage the participants into winning special prizes.

The Gandhigram Rural Institute received the overall trophy from Sister Ignatius Mary.

The Vice-Principal, Lilly Kutty's word of caution to the participants was to make a clear distinction between good and bad while using Internet.

By making use of all opportunities to reach out to the community under the aegis of the National Service Scheme the Muqyyath Sha Sirguro Wakf Board College provides the required motivation for the volunteers.

Unmindful of Sunday being a holiday, two NSS volunteers, A. Sheik Abdullah and S. Sheik Roshan, participated in the pulse polio immunisation camp at Ward No. 29, which was inaugurated by R. Baby Amutha, Chief Medical Officer of the Madurai Corporation.

They subsequently went into residential localities of the ward, spreading an awareness of pulse polio immunisation and collecting data of the immunised children for perusal by the health authorities.

The E.M.G. Yadava Women's College sees in the creation of forums a dependable approach to facilitate an interaction between its students and opinion makers in the society.

By creating the `Women's Cell' last month, the college could bring about an interface between students and a social activist, Manohari Doss. The principal, K. Vasantha, was the chairperson of the inaugural meeting, addressed by S. Chandran, employment officer.

The Women's Cell, said the principal, would study the issues and problems faced by women at particular points of time and offer solutions. As co-ordinator of the Women's Cell, G. Indira Rani of the Department of Zoology, dwelt at length on `Empowerment of Women'.

Institutes of Catering Technology and Hotel Management in and around the city have a way of striking a chord with households, organising hands-on training programmes for housewives.

One such fortnight-long programme - Housewive programme in cookery - was organised recently by the Oriental Institute of Catering Technology and Hotel Management. It served the purpose of putting the kitchen style of Indian women on a par with international standards, according to Suresh Babu, director.

The housewives were given participation certificates by the former district governor of Lions International, Adhilakshmi Gurumurthy. Her observation was that such training programmes were ideal for housewives to obtain information on food habits in different continents from professional chefs.

A couple of academic events at the S. Vellaichamy Nadar College - one at the end of 2003 and another at the beginning of 2004 - had an encouraging factor in common. In both the events, the students got an opportunity to hear to faculty drawn from other city colleges.

On December 30, a seminar on the `Life and message of K. Kamaraj' was organised for the students by the city-based Society for Education, Action and Development (SEAD), in which R. Subbiah of the Yadava College shared the dais with K. John Moses, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Janata Dal (Secular).

Mr. Subbiah saw in Kamaraj a rare amalgam of rich practical wisdom and guiding leadership that drew youth towards healthy political participation. The seminar dwelt on formation of Study Circles on Kamaraj in colleges as part of extra-curricular activities and suggested that a Chair on Kamaraj Studies be initiated at the Madurai Kamaraj University.

Likewise, on January 2, when a guest lecture on `Globalisation - a boon or bane' was arranged under the aegis of the World University Service, students of Management Studies, Economics and Commerce, were given an insight into the emerging international economic scenario by C. Muthuraja of the Economics department, the Amercian College.

The K.L. Nagaswamy Memorial Polytechnic College took pride in responding to the call made by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to make India a knowledge superpower before 2020, by organising an exhibition to create an `awareness of modern technology - 2004', on Wednesday.

The exhibition, says the Principal, M.H. Babulal, was meant to inculcate practical skills related to science and technology among the students and enhance their motivation by infusing self-confidence. Among the major working models displayed in the exhibition were automatic guided vehicle, renewable energy sources, bomb detecting robot, high efficiency power generating autotracking solar power plant, automatic solar panel transisting system, digital speed control system in two-wheelers, mobile navigator, polymer concrete, online banking and battery car.

The Chief Educational Officer, T. Kanna Kalyanasundaram, who was invited to inaugurate the exhibition, stressed that it was imperative for educational institutions to conduct technical and science exhibitions on an annual basis.

Faculty members and students of the Tamil Department, Madura College, were fortunate to get an insight into `Architecture in Tamil Nadu temples', by virtue of a University Grants Commission-funded programme.

The Head of the department, T.K. Subramanian, got the Senior Epigraphist of the Archaeology department, V. Vedachalam, to explain the architectural characteristics of the temples constructed during the Pandya, Chola and Pallava periods.(Contributed by R. Krishnamoorthy.)

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu