UGC plans anti-ragging regulations before new session

Chandigarh: Admitting that mere Supreme Court guidelines are not enough to prevent ragging from spoiling the careers of students, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to convert these into strict regulations before the next academic session.

"We have realised that more than a decade-old guidelines are not enough to curb the menace of ragging. So, we have formed a four-member committee that would convert these guidelines into regulations as regulations are more strong and easier to enforce on the accused students or the institution," UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat told reporters here on Sunday.

"The committee will submit its report in the next one or two months and we would circulate it in all the colleges and universities. We are taking this issue very seriously and the new regulations would be implemented before the start of next academic session."

This month alone, ragging caused the death of a medical student in Himachal Pradesh and led a girl engineering student in Andhra Pradesh to attempt suicide.

Thorat, who was in Chandigarh on Sunday, presided over the function of 58th annual convocation of the Panjab University.

He said the central objective of the UGC's 11th plan is to increase the enrolment of students in higher education where India is lagging behind many countries.

"In India, the enrolment rate to higher education has increased from 0.7 percent in 1950-51 to 11 percent in 2006-07. Among girls, the enrolment rate is only nine percent while among boys it is 17 percent," said Thorat.

"However, still we are far behind many developed countries where this rate is over 55 percent. Now our immediate target is to increase this rate to 15 percent in the coming months," said Thorat.

He said the UGC is working to create a comprehensive system where no student from poor or backward class remains away from higher education for the want of money. IANS