Jadavpur University has announced that from now on freshers will be divided into small groups after they arrive at the institution and each group “shall be assigned to a member of the faculty as mentors” in keeping with UGC’s anti-ragging regulations.
The university announced the step following a prod from the UGC.
The mentors, a circular says, will individually interact with each member of the group every day for “ascertaining the problems/ difficulty” faced by the fresher and “shall extend necessary help to the fresher in overcoming the same”.
The circular signed by JU registrar Snemamanju Basu names the teachers from each faculty subject-wise who would act as mentors.
A JU official said it would be the responsibility of the members of the faculty assigned to the groups of freshers, to coordinate with the hostel superintendents. “Their task will include surprise visits to the rooms of the hostels where a member or members of the groups are lodged. They will maintain a diary of their interaction with the freshers under their charge.”
Metro reported on Thursday that JU had admitted to the UGC that its anti-ragging squad earlier did not follow the norm of conducting “surprise visits” to hostels.
“Since the concept of teachers acting as mentors was not followed, the practice of surprise visits by the mentors did not exit as well,” said a JU official.
A first-year student was allegedly thrown off a second-floor balcony of the main hostel by senior students late on August 9. He died early on August 10.
JU is now trying to implement norms that have been in place since 2009.
The UGC had, in a letter to JU earlier, said: “On arrival, the students were not divided into smaller groups and no faculty members were assigned to the freshers....
“This is a grave violation of the regulations clause 6.2(h) & (i) (of the UGC regulation 2009).”
A JU official said the mentors were required to earn the confidence of the first-year students so they open up before them in case there was any trouble.
“They should motivate the students to take part in group counselling or individual counselling. They need to make them aware of the helpline numbers that the state government has launched so any complaints of ragging could be lodged,” the official said.
An internal committee of JU, which probed the first-year student’s death, said in its report that the teachers of the departments have a significant role in curbing the acts of ragging on the campus and in the hostels as well.
“They are required to disseminate proper guidelines to the freshers during the admission, orientation programme and also in classes during the early weeks to prevent any uncomfortable incident faced by them..,” the report said.