Hyderabad, November 09: The shocking suicide by B.Com final year student Anusha at the prestigious Villa Marie College recently has raised sharp doubts over the presence, and efficacy, of anti-ragging cells in city educational institutions.
A casual visit to most junior and degree colleges reveals the extent of the problem. Even elite colleges like St Francis, St Ann’s (Mehdipatnam), St Mary’s and Villa Marie seem to have no permanent counselling mechanism beyond some kind of orientation at the beginning of the academic year.
‘‘We took a pledge against ragging and were apprised of its adverse impact.
The administration also said we could approach the psychology department in case of any such problems,’’ a final-year degree student told Express. However, most students appear to be unaware of any such service in their colleges.
A faculty member at the Centre for Health Psychology of the University of Hyderabad said though a large section of students did not face ragging, colleges should not be complacent.
Generally, it is moot how effective anti-ragging cells as well as committees against sexual harassment are at other central and State universities. Degree and junior colleges do not even have this fig leaf. While the AP State Higher Education Council maintains that constitution of anti-ragging cells and helpline centres is mandatory, most colleges do not have them, and at those which do, they are not effective. ‘‘Anti-ragging cells and student counselling centres were made mandatory last academic year itself. We even organised anti-ragging campaigns with the active participation of colleges. In spite of such measures, it is unfortunate that incidents like the Anusha suicide have happened,’’ said an APSCHE official.
He, however, said constant surveillance on erring colleges was simply not possible.
—Agencies–