The Bengal higher education department issued a circular on Monday that says application forms for admission, enrolment or registration shall contain an affidavit that will say that the applicant and the parents know about the prohibition on ragging and the punishment prescribed and that the candidate will desist from engaging in an act of ragging.
The online undertaking has to be submitted by the applicant and the parent every academic year.
The circular was issued five days after a first-year student of Jadavpur University was allegedly killed by a group of students who were harassing him in the university’s main hostel.
An annexure to the circular that refers to UGC guidelines says “the application forms for admission, enrolment or registration shall contain an affidavit, (it shall be compulsory for each student and his/her guardians to submit an online undertaking each academic year of the two designated websites……) mandatorily in English and in Hindi and or in one of the regional languages known to the applicant…. to be filled up or signed up by the applicant to the effect that he or she has ….. aware of the prohibition of ragging and the punishment prescribed, both under penal laws as well as under the said regulations and also affirm to the effect that he/she has not been debarred from the academic institution” because of ragging.
The applicant must also “aver that he/she would not indulge, actively or passively, in the act or abet the act of ragging and if found guilty of ragging and/ or abetting
ragging is liable to be proceeded against under these
regulations….”
An official of the education department said it was part of the UGC’s 2009 norms and a usual practice for a college or university to seek an undertaking from the applicant at the time of the admission.
“But the undertaking now will be in the form of an affidavit which each student and his/her guardians would have to submit an online undertaking each academic year of the two designated websites mandatorily. We have sought to be as strict as possible.
The death of the student who was allegedly ragged has brought disrepute to Bengal. We don’t want any recurrence,” the official told The Telegraph.
One of the provisions in the circular says: “The application for admission shall be accompanied by a document in the form, or annexed to, the school leaving certificate/transfer certificate/ migration certificate/character certificate reporting on the interpersonal/social behavioural pattern of the applicant, to be issued by the school or institution last attended by the applicant so that the institution can thereafter keep watch on the applicant if admitted, whose behaviour has been commended in such document.”
The government has announced district-level committees headed by district magistrates and the Calcutta police commissioner in Calcutta to ensure compliance with the guidelines and a state-level committee to hear complaints about lack of redress.
“The state-level committee to look into the complaints lodged by the students/ guardians regarding the inaction, negligence on the part of the management of the educational institutions.... the competent authority has decided to constitute a state-level committee....”
On hostel accommodation, the circular says: “A student seeking admission to a hostel
forming part of the institution, or seeking to reside in any temporary premises not forming part of the institution, including a private commercially managed lodge or hostel, shall have to submit additional affidavits, countersigned by his / her parents / guardians in the form prescribed along with his or her applications.”
The circular also says the hostel should have full-time wardens and the academic institutions should also engage professional counsellors. Jadavpur University has contractual wardens in its hostels.
The 13-page document details what all higher education institutions are supposed to do to prevent ragging and to redress complaints.
It iterates UGC guidelines that say institutions should engage professional counsellors to speak to freshers and senior students together to counsel them and prevent ragging.
Education minister Bratya Basu had told this newspaper last week that the state government will constitute a committee to look into complaints and grievances that have not been dealt with by educational institutions under UGC norms on ragging.
“We are deeply concerned about the issue of ragging in higher educational institutions. At present, the higher education department is formulating a policy to bring out a notification after detailed introspection with the judgment of the Supreme Court and existing rules and regulations of the state” he said in a text message.