Stay-away plea from Morcha - Outstation students told to delay comeback

TT, Kalimpong, Feb. 10: Schools in the hills were plunged into uncertainly today with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung “requesting” students who were not from Darjeeling to delay their arrival for the new academic session by a “few days” for “their own good”. The schools in the Darjeeling hills will reopen for the new session from next week onwards. The academic session in the hill schools is from February/March to November/December. In extending support to the student wing of the party which had made the same appeal yesterday, Gurung today signalled that the Morcha was all set to intensify its agitation against the administration for withholding permission to hold a rally in Siliguri. Morcha sources said the “intensified agitation” could also lead to the closure of the hill schools, an eventuality that institutions here said would be “an absolute disaster” as the board examinations were about to begin. Talking to reporters here today, Gurung said: “We can’t take risk with students from outside. The Vidhyarthi Morcha has embarked on an agitation to exercise its democratic rights. It would mean hostels, too, could be in trouble.” The Morcha chief, however, made it clear that the outstation students were only being advised to delay their arrival by a “few days”, and they would be welcomed back once the situation stabilised. “Our only intention is to protect the students from outside. Otherwise, education will go on as normal,” he said. Later, interacting with a delegation of the party’s education monitoring cell and the Kalimpong unit of the Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation, Gurung is understood to have clarified that those outstation students who will appear in various examinations should come and write their papers. While ISC and ICSE examinations are scheduled to begin on February15 and March 3 respectively, the Madhyamik examination will start on February 23. Heads of institutions and teachers are worried by the sudden turn of events before the start of the new session. All those The Telegraph spoke to were unanimous in their opinion that the advisory, however well-intended, could not have been so ill-timed. “This has come at a time when the new academic year is about to begin. Parents will naturally be wary of sending their wards to schools in the hills, and instead begin looking for alternative places,” said a teacher. According to rough estimates, about 6,000 outstation students study in the 10-odd schools — Dr Graham’s Homes, St Joseph’s Convent and Rockvale Academy to name a few — and the four institutes of higher education in Kalimpong. The majority of outstation students in the schools here are from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sikkim, while Bhutanese constitute the largest block in the two regular colleges — Kalimpong College and Cluny Women’s College — and the two management institutes, Good Shepherd Institute of Hospitality Management and B.B. Pradhan Management In fact, the education sector is a major contributor to the local economy, benefiting diverse sections of the population. “Unlike in Darjeeling, the contribution of the educational institutes to the economies of Kalimpong and Kurseong is far greater than even tourism. As in tourism, a wide section of the population finds gainful employment in the education sector as well. Transporters, assorted business establishments, hostel owners, hotels; they all gain from the education sector,” said an educationist. Rebel vows to fight for Gorkhaland Dahal in Gangtok on Wednesday. (Prabin Khaling) TT, Gangtok, Feb. 10: A defiant Ajay Dahal, the President of the United Gorkha Revolutionary Front (UGRF), today vowed to fight for Gorkhaland and asked all those who lead the movement for the separate state to be sincere towards the cause. Dahal, who had been arrested under provisions of the Arms Act here yesterday, made the comments while being escorted out of the court of the chief judicial magistrate (East and North). He was remanded in six days of police custody. “I could not complete my mission and I really regret it. Whether inside or outside jail, I will continue my mission. I will return and I will live and die for Gorkhaland,” Dahal told reporters. “Those leading the Gorkhaland movement in Darjeeling should be honest and sincere towards the cause.” A former jawan of the Central Industrial Security Force, Dahal had been underground ever since the murder of a GNLF panchayat member at Lower Santuk near Kalimpong, on October 24, 2006. He had floated the UGRF in 2004 with a call for an armed struggle for Gorkhaland. A country made revolver and three cartridges were recovered from Dahal when he was picked up by the Gangtok police. The police are interrogating the rebel to find out his motive for staying in Sikkim. IBM inks tech study deal with Dooars campus TT, Alipurduar, Feb. 10: For the first time in north Bengal, IBM signed a memorandum of understanding with a college in the Dooars for Career Education in IBM Software. The agreement was inked with the Dooars Academy of Technology and Management (DATM) in Alipurduar. The CEIS is a four-month programme and it includes supply of IBM course curriculum and study material, IBM-led training, student certification, personality development workshops and at the end, placement assistance. The programme also includes opportunities to execute IBM-designed and guided projects leading to assessment and certification by IBM. Students will have to pay 40 per cent of the course fee of Rs 15,000. The remaining 60 per cent will be funded by DATM. Kushal Maitra, the secretary of DATM, the institute that offers BBA, MBA, BCA and MCA courses, said: “This is a landmark industry-academic campus event in the entire north Bengal. DATM is the first in the region to sign this kind of MoU with IBM. This will expose students to the best practices of the industry with guidance from IBM experts and study material. IBM certification of the students will empower them to address job opportunities on the domestic as well as international markets.” IBM will conduct personality development workshops on the campus and will arrange for interviews for placements in companies. The CEIS will start on February 15. The course is also open to those who are not students of the institute. But in that case, DATM will not bear any expenses. Currently, there are 235 students in the institute. For them, the CEIS will be a compulsory course. “DATM students will get an opportunity to interact with their counterparts from outside India,” said Maitra, hinting at IBM’s global connections.