June 15:University Grants Commission, UGC, and All India Council for Technical Education, AICTE, have asked the educational institutions to take necessary measures to check any form of ragging in their campuses with the new academic session set to begin soon.
First year students can hope to enter campuses without the fear of ragging if stringent measures suggested by an expert panel are implemented. The AICTE has warned the institutions that their approval will be scrapped if any case of ragging is reported.
The AICTE also asked students, parents and the public to report to it instances of ragging in any form in institutions imparting technical education. The Raghavan committee set up by the apex court to monitor the measures being taken to prevent ragging in higher educational institutions has suggested zero tolerance towards ragging.
The committee, headed by former CBI chief K Raghavan, asked the statutory regulatory bodies to direct educational institutions to incorporate in admission notices appropriate messages in this regard. Noting that ragging lowered the standards of higher education, the committee felt that release of grants under various schemes of the UGC should be linked with the compliance of Supreme Court directives by the institutions.Courtsey: AIR