Prez asks Governors to help wipe out ragging menace

Ahead of the commencement of the new academic year, President Pratibha Patil today expressed concern over recent incidents of ragging in some colleges and asked Governors to help "wipe out" the "unseemly blot" on the educational sector.     

In a letter to her representatives in the states and union territories, Patil asked them to examine the regulatory structure for educational institutions and whether a "credible architecture of legal deterrence" can be built to prevent ragging.     

She noted that the Supreme Court had already taken a strong stand on this issue and rules and regulations to prevent ragging including laws have already been enacted at different levels or are in the process of being enacted.     

In the letter, which comes ahead of the new academic year, she said while it is the primary responsibility of the management of educational institutions and the teachers to prevent ragging, "it would make eminent sense if parents and guardians are mobilised to counsel their wards to behave more responsibly and be supportive in their dealings with their juniors".     

The President asked Governors and Lt Governors to use their knowledge, wisdom and experience in galvanizing society to wipe out the, what she has termed as an "unseemly blot" from our educational sector.

Patil said that the cooperation of NGOs active in this field would be helpful in creating a climate of awareness against ragging and in alleviating the trauma of victims.     

She said the Governors' "sagacious counsel and guidance" would go a long way in furthering the cause of eliminating the scourge.     

Recalling recent incidents of ragging, she said the "perverse" practice has not only become rampant in our educational institutions but acquired hideous proportions costing the sanity and life of some of the students.     

"What is more worrisome is the persistent spread of this scourge both across a range of educational institutions as also across the length and breadth of our country," Patil said.     

"Such disorderly, aggressive, and inhuman conduct on the part of senior students inflicting physical cruelty and mental torment on the freshers has outraged society at large," she said.     

"As the new academic calendar is about to commence soon, time has come when all the stakeholders in the realm of education and civil society need to seriously ponder and put their act together to prevent the menace of ragging," Patil said.