The arrest of four students allegedly for ragging their junior in a city engineering college has once again brought attention on the menace and the non-serious attitude of the authorities in dealing with it. Unlike previous years the Government has done little to spread the danger of ragging and the consequences students have to face for indulging in it. Except for some token steps like sending the regular messages to the universities not much publicity has been given even as the professional colleges opened their doors to the freshers' this month.
Absence of seriousness obviously emboldened the seniors to cross the ‘limits'. Though only a couple of cases have been reported so far several incidents go unnoticed to the fear factor among the first year students.
Some colleges that conducted the induction programmes have spread the message among the junior students but the serious warning has not gone to the senior students.
The APSCHE Secretary, N. Rajasekhar Reddy said that messages have been sent to the universities to follow the norms laid down by the Supreme Court with regard to prevention of ragging, and they have been asked to call for a meeting of the principals to take the issue seriously.
However, the seriousness is visibly lacking in majority colleges except a few that anyway follow the norms. Constituting anti-ragging committees is a must in all the colleges involving seniors, juniors and the faculty. But that's more on the paper than the reality. The details of committees have to be sent to the concerned universities and later to the APSCHE but none take it seriously. Strong presence of student unions on the university campuses has helped in controlling ragging to some extent, but the same cannot be said about the affiliated colleges.
The absence of regular Vice Chancellors for the three JNTUs in Hyderabad, Kakinada and Anantapur that have more than 1,000 engineering, MBA and MCA colleges under their jurisdiction has also hampered the campaign. “There is no direction and ragging has not been given any importance this year,” agreed the Registrar of a University.Parents of girl students are more worried though colleges assure them ragging-free campuses. Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy agreed that special measures have to be taken for girl students and the APSCHE has also given specific directions.
He said girl students should be advised to communicate with their parents, friends and the college authorities about instances of harassment or advances by male students.
