Educational Essay
Essay

Should ragging be banned?



Should ragging be banned?

          What is ragging and how did it come about to be introduced in academic institutions? It may be said to be a programme of stunts and entertainment by the students. It is one of the practices copied from England. However, the idea underlying ragging was to break the barriers between the fresher and the seniors by indulging in harmless and healthy fun. As time passed by this practice degenerated into causing nightmares, apprehensions and means of heaping humiliation and indignities on the young fresher’s. As a result every year there are reports of victims of ragging committing suicides, cases of drop¬outs and psychotic delusions. The gruesome crimes committed against girls in co-educational institutions have gone unpunished for want of evidence. The acts of hooliganism go on for days together causing sleepless nights to the freshers. So It has come to be looked upon as the most hated ritual of initiation into college life for the sensitive minds.
          Ragging should be banned in colleges and universities because violent ragging has led to many a death and countless tragic consequences. Some of the seniors do not take kindly to those who do not take to ragging willingly. It, therefore, leaves unforgettable scars on its victims. Why should an innocent student suffer from the trauma of ragging for years to come. The forms of ragging have become violent, shameful, humiliating and traumatic. In co-ed colleges girls are harassed by boys or by girls egged on by boys to such an extent that it has led an eye-witness to remark that while the killer kills once, ragging kills its victim daily. Even the freshers have been asked to drink urine. In fact ragging has come to break all limits. Ragging strips the victim off his self-image and self-esteem.
          On the healthier side ragging is a part of growing up and facing up to challenges that a college life opens up to a student. It is considered a part of college life. If you respond with courage, you make seniors your lifelong friends. Ragging is a kind of introduction to one's seniors in an informal manner and this kind of interaction is quite harmless, if ragging is within limits.

          As college authorities have not been successful in imposing discipline on the raggers, UGC has come out with a proposal recommending three year imprisonment or a Rs. 25,000 fine to check growing hooliganism on the college and university campuses. The punishment may serve a deterrent so as not to allow things to go out of hand. Many students feel that UGC should not serve as kill-joy and drain-off fun and joy out of college life.
          Instead of imposing fine it would be better to take the help of serious minded senior students in preventing the criminal elements to take charge of ragging. Committees of responsible students should be constituted to keep a watch on irresponsible elements. Secondly the principal and the professors should exercise moral authority over the mischievous students. Those who take up teaching profession by choice are expected to know their duties as well. They have responsibility towards society in addition to their teaching profession. Therefore, the best course to deal with raggers should remain invested with the teachers. Let no outside authorities interfere in the interest of long term harmo¬nious relationship between the teachers and the taught