With the commencement of new sessions at colleges, it is common to see fresher following a particular dress code, singing songs for their seniors and so on. But there are many other mild to harsh forms of ragging, like from proposing to a senior, puzzle solving to beating, locking them in rooms to striping juniors . Hence, another threat that today’s youth is facing is ragging. This is again a gift of British rulers, as in ancient Indian schools and all educational institutions there was nothing known as ragging. Mutual respect was infused very strongly and given the highest importance. But, invasion of Britishers also brought the culture of ragging or caning, which earlier was limited to English colleges and schools but slowly spread to the entire education system of India.
In ragging, both the culprit as well as victim are students and so you cannot blame others for the same. Most parents due to the fear of extreme ragging don’t want to send their children to colleges outside their home towns.
In spite of anti-raging cells in almost all colleges, many students do not file their complaints as they fear getting ragged further and that too very harshly. There are reports of ragging related deaths of students in India. Recently an engineering student has not only been ragged by his senior but also poisoned. Because of his critical condition he has been admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital at Gurgaon, after some college students found him unconscious outside the college park. Many students in India bear the physical and mental trauma related to ragging.
According to psychiatrists impact of ragging is similar to that of rape and can even be more long lasting. This also lowers self-esteem, morale and increases stress level. Apart from teachers, it is the responsibility of parents to take keen interest in their kids and their studies. Parents should look for certain symptoms like a change in behaviour, signs of withdrawal or depression, loss of interest in almost all activities and complaints of nightmare. If these are the symptoms that your kid is showing after taking admission in a new school or college, then you must talk t0 them to find out the actual cause. Do not ignore what your kids say to you as if you will ignore it once they will never share anything with you.
Also in order to stop or curb the problem of ragging fresher should be given enough time to get familiarized with the environment and their first interaction with seniors should happen in the presence of teachers or professors. Also when any student files a complaint, make sure that anonymity is maintained. And like any other case, culprits should be punished to set an example. In case any student is willing to file a complaint then he or she normally does not have enough evidences to support that he was ragged. So instead of the victim having to prove himself, it should be other way round in which the guilty will have to prove their innocence.
Though ragging truly is a problem but some students believe that it helps in the development of their personalities. They have to face a tough situation and as only the toughest can survive, so the sense of winning a game is associated with it. Majority of students think that it is a menace and so ragging in any form ranging from physical, mental to minor or major should be stopped immediately. Ragging is only a way to humiliate freshers.
Ragging is a very harsh form of introduction and must be changed back to just introduction. Though anti- ragging acts, anti ragging cells are in place but seniors should understand that ragging is not a way of entertainment or introduction. Someone suffer and with that person it is the entire family that goes through the trauma of ragging. Parents see so many dreams for their kids and one wrong act of ragging damages all, as some students leave their studies even before starting or commit suicide due to the trauma of ragging. This is not funny and through ragging seniors are actually snatching away the most precious gift of the parents – their children.
