When we hear the word university, a very aesthetic and motivating image pops up in our brains. It is a place of free thinking, intellectualism and higher education. It is a holy ground for many youths who come to forge their career dreams. Students slog day in, and out every single moment to get admission into one of the best universities. They compromise their sleep, comfort and social life for a number of years. Their parents also sacrifice a lot for this one purpose. Others use their land as collateral to borrow money or wipe out all of the savings they kept. They wish for their kids to be successful scholars, doctors, engineers or leaders. An admission test is like an intense war. Hundreds of thousands of students battle for a handful of places. Only a handful of students make it past this brutal barrier. They come into their dream campus with a heart full of hope and happiness. However, for many of those students this tantalising promise becomes a terrible nightmare. A terribly vicious, toxic culture on campus. This bad culture is called ragging.
Today ragging presents itself as a big crisis in our higher education system. It's not just some harmless fun as many people like to say. Welcoming our new students is not a harmless tradition. It is a major, organized and systemic issue. This is a psychological illness that alters the thought process of our youth. It also is an immediate and violent violation of basic human rights. This is something that we need to scrutinize very closely. To save our academic environment, we need to analyse the causes and effects of it.
We can only imagine the actual horror of ragging if we hear what was actually going on through them. From the first week on campus, are you subject to vicious bullying? Seniors often get them at the residential halls in motion. They reserve some areas for that, called guestrooms or gonorooms. This is where the freshers have a horrible nightmare, in these dark rooms. The freshmen are made to stand for hours without moving. They may not look up or, heaven forbid, anywhere in the seniors' level. The seniors shout at them and use abusive language constantly. At times this mental torture leads to physical violence of brute nature. They are whacked, smacked and punched by seniors to the point where those getting slapped back have their bodies forced into painful physical positions. However, in the worst cases this leads to seniors making freshers carry out acts that are extremely humiliating and disgraceful. And this isn't even an education or onboarding thing. This is pure, unadulterated torture.
Today ragging presents itself as a big crisis in our higher education
system. It's not just some harmless fun as many people like to say.
Welcoming our new students is not a harmless tradition. It is a major,
organized and systemic issue. This is a psychological illness that
alters the thought process of our youth. It also is an immediate and
violent violation of basic human rights.
The suffering caused by this torture lasts a long time in a student life. It cuts such deep and permanent scars in the mind of a student as well as on their body. The victims go through a lot of psychological trauma. They experience high-levels of anxiety, panic attacks and live in perpetual fear. They lose their self-confidence completely. They no longer feel safe going to classes, roaming campus or staring at seniors. Most new students get depressed and fall into a dense clinical depression. That is all because they cannot confide this pain to anyone, making them feel isolated and lonely. You are only as good, if not better than your parents back home.
Ragging and student politics are deeply, darkly intertwined. Most ragging occurs in the presence of politically dominant networks who provide them active protection. Those groups control the allocation of seats in the residential halls. Through these guestinns, they brainwash and operate new students. Freshers are made to attend political rallies and programs. They all see ragging as a tool to destroy the individual will of new students. The university administration is often terrified of these powerful political figures. They do not wish to politicize the campus. So, they just turn a blind eye toward the grievances of students. Unfortunately, they frequently request solid physical evidence from the petrified victims. However, you can not expect a fresher to be able to get evidence in a room filled with abusers. If the freshers complain, torture will be met with threats to throw them out of halls. They usually threaten to ruin their academic career. Thus these freshers decide to suffer in silence. At times, even the teachers and hall provosts fault the victims themselves. The freshers should blend well in campus culture. This impudent attitude emboldens the offenders further.
An immediate stop must be put to this silent epidemic in actual ragging for our education system The university should begin with a water-tight no-tolerance policy on ragging. This policy should be applicable to all students equally and without discrimination. But it does not matter if the abuser is from a strong political party or influential family. Any student guilty of ragging shall be expelled from the institution immediately and a criminal case against them lodged. The entire campus will clearly understand the message by way of a few examples deployed with judicious severity. Nothing will stop potential abusers from doing harm to someone.
The writer is a volunteer,UNICEF Bangladesh
