Jadavpur University teachers have decided to hold a workshop on July 19 to discuss the role of teachers when there is a ragging complaint.

A member of the teachers’ association said the workshop was being held because last year, a UGC team that visited the campus following the death of a first-year student because of alleged ragging said the JU teachers were not aware of the various regulations that the apex regulatory body had introduced in 2009 to curb ragging.

The association has appealed to all teachers to attend the workshop.

“We need to ascertain the role of teachers. The UGC during its visit highlighted this. During the interaction, they asked teachers whether they were aware of the various regulations introduced in 2009 and many of the teachers failed to answer their queries. It is in this context that we are holding the workshop to sensitise the faculty about their role,” said Parthapratim Roy, secretary of the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association.

The UGC team asked the teachers whether they were aware of the mentor-mentee role they were supposed to develop with the students.

UGC regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009, say the institutions will do periodical psychological counselling for freshers to alert them about what constitutes ragging and the mechanisms in place to combat it and this will be done at the department level “involving the teachers”.

“Prevention of ragging will be the collective responsibility at all levels of the institution, including the faculty, and not that of the specific body or committee only constituted to prevent ragging,” the regulations say.

“It is a broad document and therefore, there is a need to sensitise teachers about the various provisions through a workshop. As first-year students will be admitted shortly, we are holding the workshop this month,” said Roy.