Hyderabad, June 15: Universities in the state can no longer afford to spare the rod in ragging cases. They will now have to put a stop to it in affiliated
colleges with an iron hand or else risk their funds being slashed.
At the recent vice-chancellors’ conference, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had squarely put the onus of preventing ragging on universities. Now, the chief minister’s recommendation has been taken up by the department of higher education and instructions would be given accordingly to the vice-chancellors.
“The chief minister was concerned about the increasing ragging cases in the state. The universities will have to pay a nominal fine of Rs 1,000 per ragging case reported from their jurisdiction,” an official from the department of higher education said.
He said the proposal was being processed by the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education and also secretaries of the higher education department. The plan is to make universities realise their role in monitoring colleges under their jurisdiction and the monetary penalty would force them to act on ragging incidents, the official said.
He said that after implementation of the measures, stricter restrictions would be put in place by the universities. “At a latter stage, the universities will be asked to set up anti-ragging cells in their affiliated colleges with their own funds,” the official said.
The officials have also decided in bring in stricter norms while dealing with ragging cases. “Henceforth, college authorities will not wait for the case to be proven. The erring student will be suspended. The accused will later be given a chance to prove his/her innocence,” the official said. The universities would also have to station special invigilators in hostels of their affiliated colleges.
Also, officials are also proposing to segregate students. The first year students would not be allowed to mingle with seniors during the first three months of the academic year. And, the college authorities would have to monitor the segregation mechanism. The university officials would conduct monthly inspections check on instances of ragging.
—Agencies–