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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Stop ragging newcomers
World-class centre at PU soon
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Stop ragging newcomers RAGGING is a Western concept. It is supposed to have started in some European countries, where seniors cracked some practical jokes on the juniors while welcoming them into their educational institutions. Later on this practice of welcoming ‘freshers’ became popular throughout the world. Ragging means many things to many people. Some people justify ragging as a kind of interaction that breaks the ice between the seniors and the freshers, while others argue that it makes a student bold and prepares him for the difficult circumstances in life. However, according to mental health experts, ragging is a serious form of verbal, physical sexual exploitation and a psychological problem that needs counselling. While in other countries, the practice of ragging has been almost wiped out due to stern laws in place, in India, unfortunately, this inhuman and despicable practice still exists in one form or the other in spite of the numerous anti-ragging laws. Almost all the universities and colleges across the country witness this phenomenon with the commencement of the new academic session. It is more prevalent in the residential institutions, especially engineering and medical colleges, where most of the students have to stay in hostels. These hostellers don’t have any support from their parents and relatives and are totally at the mercy of their seniors. Since the students are under tremendous pressure of securing a better career choice, they bear these unacceptable practices without protest. They do odd jobs for their seniors from cleaning rooms to washing clothes and so on. Sometimes, the freshers are huddled up in hostel rooms and asked to perform acts which may range from vulgar singing and dancing to verbal insults, getting stripped and being sexually abused. Many students who find it difficult to bear such humiliations even commit suicide. There are so many incidents of suicides and attempts to suicide reported in various parts of the country every year. In 2007, a first-year MBBS student of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, committed suicide at his Amritsar residence after allegedly being subjected to harsh ragging by his seniors. The website of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) shows that since the Supreme Court order passed in May 2007, there have been 6 suicides, 3 attempted suicides, 17 cases of physical abuse, and several other cases involving sexual, verbal and drug abuse as reported in the national media. In the beginning of the session this year, in Panjab University alone, as many as 11 students of second year from the University Institute of Engineer and Technology were suspended while three students from the chemical engineering department and two students of the Information Technology department were expelled for ragging their juniors. In India, the most elaborate report on curbing this menace has been the Raghavan Committee recommendations submitted in 2007. This committee observed that “majority of abusive ragging is focused on the genital area and takes on sexual forms, leading it to comment that ragging is also a manifestation of widespread sexual repression in our society. Urgent steps need to be taken to address the above areas. Boarding schools and especially senior students need to be brought into the ambit of any move which wishes to check/prevent/ban ragging, as various kinds bullying and sexually abusive behaviour, for instance, sodomy, start at an early age”. Based on the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee, the Supreme Court passed an order in May 2007, directing all the educational councils to work out the possibility of introducing a subject relating to ragging in the educational curriculum. It also directed the educational institutions to stipulate in their admission prospectus that the admission to the applicant would be refused or he be expelled if found to have indulged in ragging in the past or indulges in ragging anytime later on. The educational councils and institutions are gearing up to fulfil this mandate. The Raghavan Committee also identified various stakeholders like NGOs working in the field of anti-ragging, student victims and their parents, students accused and their parents, other parents, teachers and hostel wardens, Heads of institutions, authorities of universities, representatives of student bodies, representatives of state and central government, media representatives, and other members of the general public who need to be collectively involved in eradicating this menace. The committee enlists that ragging adversely impacts the standards of higher education and the primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with the academic institutions themselves. Incentives should be available to institutions for curbing the menace and there should be disincentives for failure to do so. Ragging needs to be perceived as a failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage. The media and civil society should play a larger role to curb this menace. The writer is Reader, Social Work,
Punjabi University, Patiala
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World-class centre at PU soon THE Department of Physics, Panjab University, is all set to match steps with the national institutes of research in the country with many novelties up its sleeve. The department, which has been the Centre of Advanced Study in Physics since 1991, is all set to establish a world-class Panjab University Accelerator Science Centre (PUASC) on its south campus. The proposal is in its advanced stages for funding with the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. “With this, the scope of research will enormously increase in the region. It will be a national facility on the lines of Nuclear Science Centre, New Delhi. The students and faculty members will have the opportunity to interact with some of the top scientists of the country,” said Prof Manmohan Gupta, chairman of the department. The cost estimate (recurring and non-recurring for 5 years) has been projected to be nearly Rs 75 crores for the accelerator machine, along with the building and laboratories, and maintenance for 5 years. Prof Manmohan Gupta said the proposed project for tandem accelerator would have a wide range of terminal voltage (600 KV-6 MV) and would be capable of delivering high beam current. The facility will complement the research work of other accelerators in the country. In its initial phase, this accelerator will have beam lines for ion beam implantation, microprobe analysis and a state-of-the-art accelerator mass spectrometry facility. The Department of Atomic Energy has also planned to establish a national neutron calibration facility using the high beam current accelerator at the PUASC.
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Campus Notes Dr Manohar Singh Gill, Union Minister of State for Sports, inaugurated the new shooting range and the Asia House building on the university campus recently. Giving the details, Vice-Chancellor Jai Rup Singh said the indoor shooting range had been built at a cost of Rs 3 lakh by the university where 22 shooters could practise at a time. He said the Centre was providing maximum sports facilities both in urban and rural areas to promote sports. Pinning high hopes on the Indian sportspersons, he said India would definitely win more medals at the London Olympics. He also lauded the university for converting the building, which earlier had equipment relating to the Department of Chemistry. Dr Gill said such efforts were needed to utilise the spaces for starting new projects. The Vice-Chancellor said funds for the Asia House would be used for taking up the socio-economic, political and ethical study of South-Central Asian countries. He said besides this, a seminar hall, conference hall, director’s office, library, committee room and rooms for research fellows with all basic amenities had been provided in the building. Dr Gill assured the Vice-Chancellor that the Ministry of Sports of Government of India would give all financial assistance to the university for providing more infrastructural sports facilities. He hoped that the university would make significant contribution in the Commonwealth Games, Olympics and other international sports competitions.
General orientation course from September 20
The Academic Staff College (ASC) of Guru Nanak Dev University will organise a four-week-long general orientation course from September 20 to October 17. ASC Director H. S. Bhatia said interested teachers could apply for the course on the prescribed form available at the college (ASC). The form could also be downloaded from the university website gndu.ac.in. He said application should be submitted along with a bank draft for Rs 500 in the favour of Registrar, Guru Nanak Dev University, payable at Amritsar on the account of non-refundable registration fee.
Japanese fellowship for
varsity scientist
The Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) has offered a Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr Navdeep Singh Sodhi, Reader in the Department of Food Science and Technology. The fellowship is given by JSPS to promising, highly-qualified, young foreign researchers to pursue advance research in Japanese universities/institutes. Dr Sodhi will be conducting advance research at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation of Japan for a period of two years. Earlier, Dr Sodhi was honoured at the national level with the INSA Medal for Young Scientist–2007 by the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. Recently, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has placed Dr Sodhi on one of its advisory group for providing inputs for developing vision for Indian science. Dr Sodhi was also awarded the Denmark Government’s DANIDA Fellowship for pursuing the Master of Engineering degree at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. —
Contributed by P.K. Jaiswar and Sanjay Bumbroo |
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