-     Int’l Women’s Day celebrated at PU
CHANDIGARH- MARCH 8: To mark the International Women’s Day, the Department of Life
Long Learning and Extension (DLLL&E), Panjab University (PU) organised an interface
with the working women to get a feel of their problems and help find solutions to ease
their daily routine.
    Prof Ajaib Singh, Director of the department speaking on the occasion said
that the working women were more prone to stress caused by requirements at home and at
workplace.  He observed that an organisation suffered when its staff was under stress.
As a welfare organisation, it was the duty of the employer to see that his employees
were comfortable, stress free, mentally and physically healthy. He appreciated today’s
interface as a small step in the right direction for the betterment of women’s lot.  
    Prof. Jitendra Mohan, Professor Emeritus in the department of Psychology spoke
on “Management of Stress” and focused on multidimensional stress that working women
faced in their daily life.  Women are made stress prone because of their devotion to
the tasks at home and total commitment that they have towards whatever they are
involved in.  He pointed out that if one remained stressed for a long period of time,
physical and psychological symptoms like digestive problem, headache, paranoia,
sleeplessness start appearing besides the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
    While highlighting the strategies for stress management, he advised “crying”
as one of the ways for releasing stress as weeping gives one an emotional outlet.
Restructuring the problem, developing good social support system, developing right
attitude, relaxing and meditation are some of the other ways to cope with stress, he
suggested.  
    Prof. Meena Sehgal, seniormost professor from the department of Psychology,
Panjab University, spoke on “Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness” and opined that
commitment to one’s profession was the first criteria to be an effective teacher. She
said that it was very important to know as to when and how one decided to become a
teacher: whether teaching was one’s first choice or one became a teacher as a last
resort or option.  In addition, communication skills, involvement and interaction with
students, right kind of subject expertise, love for human relationships and society
help cope with stress and lead towards effectiveness.  
                                            Press Note
No.128