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Latest News |
| 27th
Sep 2010 / Times of India / Mumbai Edition |
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Colleges draw the line on ragging
Set Up Grievance Units, Discipline Committees, Anti-Ragging
Cells
Mumbai: Spurred on by UGC and Supreme Court calls, a majority
of city colleges have put in place several stringent mechanisms
to check ragging on campus, including anti-ragging cells,
discipline committees and information campaigns. The cells
were created in line with a UGC diktat issued last year.
At St Andrews College, Bandra, and in many other educational
institutions in the city, the students are warned in plain
words against ragging during the orientation program at
the outset of the academic year. We are very clear about
the rules when it comes to ragging. Even our prospectus
mentions that anyone caught ragging a student will face
harsh punishment, even suspension, said St Andrews principal
Marie Fernandes.
A few years ago, a Supreme Court order made it mandatory
for country’s colleges to set up specific rules
to curb ragging. In 2009, the top courts efforts got redoubled
when the University Grants Commissions directed all colleges
to set up anti-ragging cells. In Mumbai, college authorities
have done what was demanded and more.
We take a written undertaking from every student when
they join our college, where they accede that they can
face punishment like suspension or jail term if caught
ragging, said Sunil Mantri, principal of Narsee Monjee
College in Vile Parle.
R D National College in Bandra came up with a different
innovative method. We have divided all our students into
groups of 40 and each group is put under the guidance
of a college professor, said Principal Narendra Panjwani.
These groups meet regularly and students are free to talk
about any problems they have, be it personal or anything
to do with the college. Naresh Chandra, principal of Birla
College in Kalyan, said: We don’t find such cases
in city colleges. Yet we have ensured that a discipline
committee of professors makes rounds of the college every
week. We also have a grievance unit where students are
free to come and talk about their problems. While most
principals say that extreme cases of ragging are usually
encountered in engineering colleges and educational institutions
with an attached hostel, they agree that the effects of
ragging on young minds cannot be ruled out. Students fail
to understand that ragging can have direct psychological
effects on young children and leave them with lifelong
fear of the society. Our college has an anti-ragging cell
which involves both students as well as teachers to spread
across a clear message that ragging will not be allowed
on our campus, said Usha Mukundan, principal of Jhunjhunwala
College in Ghatkopar.
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