Growing menace

Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

RAGGING seems to have grown into a dangerous dimension, with Advanced Level students taking part in this reprehensible act. With its entrance into schools, there is more and more reason to worry and get parents involved in making children understand the wrongness of ragging so that they will never condone or engage in it either in school or at any other institution.

The Buttala Police on Monday arrested four A/L students on charges of having assaulted several teachers of the Buttala Uva Pelwatte Maha Vidyalaya, when the teachers had intervened to stop the ragging of the newly-admitted students. An injured teacher was admitted to the Buttala Base Hospital, while another teacher was discharged from hospital after treatment.

This incident had happened when several teachers had attempted to stop some senior students from ragging new students who had arrived at the school to begin their A/L classes. A student who was also injured and admitted to hospital had left the hospital. Three students from the Arts stream and one from the Maths stream were arrested. This is the latest incident to show how deeply rooted ragging is in Sri Lanka’s student community.

Sri Lanka in 1998 passed the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act, yet the country’s image remains tainted, with several world publications claiming that Sri Lankans practice the worst forms of ragging.

The ragging practiced in a decent manner has a functionary role in that it helps create equality among students who come from different social and economic backgrounds, defenders of the system say. They also say it helps build strong personalities and promote camaraderie among students. Sadly, this is not what happens within the walls of Sri Lankan universities.

Statistics show 15 students have died, two have committed suicide, 25 have been disabled, six sexually abused and more than 6,000 students have left universities, all because of ragging by seniors and the failure of university and State authorities to take effective countermeasures or implement the law strictly.

In a surprising development, even the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) has admitted that they are against ragging. This is an incredibly positive step as student unions have safeguarded and indeed even promoted ragging in the past. Union activities, which are at their strongest in hostels, create the environment for ragging victims to suffer in silence. Students are also used to promote political ends and unfairly manipulated to disrupt the functions of universities.

While the nominal stance against ragging by the IUSF is commendable, they have the responsibility to implement safeguards against the heinous practice. Officials of student unions need to educate their members on the physical and psychological negatives of ragging. Union members can report fellow students engaged in ragging and protect hostellers, who are often the worst affected.

Cooperating with authorities to punish offenders and eventually clean the university system of ragging will gain them significant public approval and even increase the masses’ empathy on other issues that they campaign on such as privatisation of universities. Such education should begin at home and be enforced by the education institutions and laws as well as by the general censure of society.