Will the new order help?

Will the new administrative order remedy the situation? It is difficult to say. Unless classroom teaching is strengthened and academic staff is made to play their technical, supervisory and visionary roles earnestly, nothing tangible would happen. The malady is basically internal, and calls for internal cleansing.THE MENACE of ragging has become quite common, and despite numerous rules and acts, it is on the increase. The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the problem and suggested some strict measures to curb it. Many cases are not reported and in most cases incidents cross all limits of decency and morality. The evil must be dealt with initially at the institution level and students should be treated sternly, but not as criminals. Combined responsibility should be fixed, and due vigilance should be in force right from the time of advertisement for admission.

Following the directive from the Apex Court, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has issued a detailed and clear administrative order to this effect. It will take strict action against the defaulting institution, including cuts in financial grants and disaffiliation.

The directive states: ``Failure to prevent ragging shall be construed an act of negligence in maintaining discipline in the institution on part of the management, the principal and the person in authority of the institution. Similar responsibility is liable to be fixed on hostel wardens.'' The erring institutions will lose financial grants and affiliation status:'' If an institution fails to curb ragging, the UGC or such other funding agency may consider stoppage of financial assistance to such institution till such time as it achieves the same.'' Similarly, a university may think of disaffiliating a college that can't contain ragging.

Most people feel that the evil of ragging should at once be contained, if not altogether eliminated. My long experience (as a university and college warden/chief warden) shows that the problem is neither simple nor insurmountable. The grass roots reality makes it abundantly clear that the evil often originates from college/university hostels, and occurs much more frequently in professional and university institutions. The management is generally too weak to handle the situation. In some, serious classes are not started for the first four/five weeks.

At times, teachers leave classes to enable senior students take `introduction' to freshers. Senior teachers, who are expected to have greater moral pressure on students are often not inclined to become wardens.

In some cases, non-teachers are appointed to the positions or wardens live out side the hostels to apply a distant sensing control.

Some wardens spread politics on campuses and hostels, and extra activities are not regularly arranged in hostels. There are also several professional teasers as also regional caste or political associations in every institute of education.

However, the most distressing aspect seems to be that nobody bothers about students or discipline.

Each one critises the other and avoids taking up responsibility or initiative. Nobody has the guts to say, ``the buck stops here.''

At the time of admissions, student leaders of various political hue and colour get hold of the freshers, at times even help them, while teachers remain practically idle or indifferent. Political parties create their ``cells'' in universities and colleges.

Elections to students' bodies are fought on political basis. Some try to manage educational institutions with the help of external force or police and create further problems for themselves and others.

Now, almost every university has a permanent police post in or around the campus. A college principal once asked the vice- chancellor for guidance during days of students' elections. ``I have called the police, you also do the same,'' instantly advised the university executive.

Although the reasons for ragging vary from institution to institution, region to region, some factors are common too: teachers' apathy, management's negligence, involvement of the wards of influential people, old rivalries, lack of anticipation of problems, timely remedial measures and prompt action to defuse the situation. A general impression has spread that such incidents are common and that no action is taken against mischievous elements. Happy exceptions are there, but by and large, many teachers and university officers are terribly afraid of the bad elements. Students do not have a sense of personal respect for several elders on the campus.

The new directive to universities is surely timely and meaningful. It is unfortunate that many of the 250 universities consider only their campus, not those of affiliating colleges, as their own. Also, in several cases, they are not able to control their own campuses, despite numerous facilities and reasonably good student-teacher ratio. A majority of the college principals contends that 90 per cent of their problems are owing to parent universities. In colleges, there are several outside pressures and often becomes difficult to take suitable action, since nobody, including the police and the academic staff, supports the college head. Teachers, particularly, maintain that it is for the head to tackle the situation.

Will the new administrative order remedy the situation? It is difficult to say. Unless classroom teaching is strengthened and academic staff is made to play their technical, supervisory and visionary roles earnestly, nothing tangible would happen. The malady is basically internal, and calls for internal cleansing.

The young will naturally have their fun and pranks, particularly when the cat is away.

It is both sad and strange that some vice-chancellors/principals do not spend the required time in their institutions. It is an accepted fact that nothing is fundamentally wrong with our youth.

They are not criminals; even the so-called bad students are good persons who have gone astray. In fact, adults don't handle them properly. "The fault, dear Brutus, is in us that we are underlings.''

To fix a combined responsibility and stopping of grants/affiliation sound good remedial steps.

But we should fix greater responsibility on class teachers; chairman and the heads of institutions, supervision and strengthening of our teaching-learning process, guidance and counselling procedures. And, the guilty, whether among students, teachers, educational administrators or others, should be severely dealt with. The punishment will prove a deterrent.

As Leon Trotsky points out: "Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravity.''

As much depends upon the heads, executive heads of colleges and varsities should invariably be chosen with extreme care and caution, on the basis of proven integrity, academic achievements and administrative competence.

Teachers' recruitment and promotion rules should be suitably reviewed so as to include competence to handle students and students' services as one of the essential qualifications. Indeed, composite and persistent efforts should be made to revamp the education system in the light of past experience so as to seek lasting solutions to problems like ragging.

ATMA RAM

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