Hyderabad: The University Grants Commission on Wednesday released a report which says that sexual ragging in higher educational Institutions in Telangana are on rise. It stands only next to Karnataka, with 11% of students as against 4% of National average ,surveyed in Telangana reported sexual ragging by seniors.
The Supreme Court has commissioned a study ‘Psychosocial study of ragging in selected educational institutions in India’, which was conducted by four-member experts committee. The committee has surveyed as many as 10,632 students from 37 colleges/universities in the country and concluded that students in Telangana state are primarily being subjected to two kinds of sexual ragging – Stripping and Sodomy, with highest percentage of ragging involving stripping reported from a private nursing college in Telangana (10.4 %).
The study also points out other forms of sexual ragging which include asking students to enact sexual scenes or narrating stories with sexual content.
Male students too are victims of sexual ragging.
The other states which appeared on the list include Maharashtra, West Bengal and UP. The committee also reports that this menace is more prevalent among male students, those staying in hostels and enrolled in professional courses like engineering, medical, nursing and hotel management. A 2016 incident from JNTU, Hyderabad stands testimony to the findings of the report.
The percentage of students reporting the negative impact of ragging on their academic performance is much higher than the prevalence of ragging in the Higher educational institutions, and the most common forms of ragging in Telangana include ragging based on region, language, religion and economic background. The report also stated that “This could be because ragging has been severe but not as widespread in the institution, or that mild forms of harassment have not been seen as ragging. It is also possible that atmosphere of fear and intimidation experienced by freshers’ in some colleges has an adverse impact even though they have not been ragged,”
As a reaction to the report, students and professors said that though there is gender insensitiveness in campuses, the numbers of sexual ragging cases reported is an exaggeration.
JNTU-H student leader Javvaji Dileep said that “We cannot deny that ragging is prevalent, however, sexual ragging cases are much fewer when compared to other forms of ragging like beating, burdening them with assignments etc.”
Worrying trend in Telangana: Sexual ragging cases on rise,says UGC Report
