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Ragging brings academic activity at Kelaniya campus to a halt
View(s):Academic activities for senior students of the Kelaniya University were brought to a standstill, with the Kelaniya University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) deciding not to hold classes for seniors until ragging at the campus was stopped .
Kelaniya University Vice Chancellor Prof. Sunanda Madduma Bandara warned that in accordance with the Act Prohibiting Ragging in Educational Institutions, action would be taken against senior students involved in incidents of raging .
He said several students had already been suspended for alleged involvement in incidents of ragging. He emphasised that if incidents of ragging continued, the authorities would have no alternative but to lodge complaints with the police under the Anti-Ragging Act.
“Every year a large numbers of new entrantsts flee higher education institutes due to the torment they are forced to undergo at the hands of senior students. The real tragedyis that these students never complained of the torment they undergo, due to a fear psychosis,” he said,
“What is worse, is that these days seniors are even preventing freshers from attending lectures. Instead they are assembling them in the burning sun along the roads and giving them their own ‘lectures’,” he said. Prof Bandara said action against students engaged in ragging of freshers would be taken in keeping with recommendations made by KUTA and added that parents of the students concerned too would be informed.
“I am hopeful that academic activities will return to normal within the next week if the teachers union and student union are able to work something out,” he said. Meanwhile the University Grants Commission (UGC) said, that while they supported the actions of the University, the Commission would not interfere as it respected the autonomy of the university.
UGC Chairman Prof. Mohan de Silva said the vice chancellors and senates of the universities could take action against ragging, and added that the Prohibition of Ragging and Violence in Educational Institutes Act allowed authorities to impose severe penalties on individuals who violated it. Meanwhile KUTA said the they would refrain from teaching senior students as the former were preventing freshers from attending lectures.
KUTA president Professor Sumathipala Halpita said senior students were even threatening lecturers who attempted to help victim students. “Since the end of February seniors have prevented freshers from attending lectures,” he said. “On Wednesday, a female student who was forced to stand in the sun fainted. But despite this senior students forced them to remain in the same place while they continued with their so-called lectures,” he charged.
Inter University Student Federation president Lahiru Weerase-kara said his union would stand by the victims of ragging and support them if they could prove they were victims of a ragging.
Weerasekara however claimed that the lecturers at Kelaniya campus were creating an issue whereas ragging did not occur. He claimed that it was a process where senior students helped new students learnt the ethics of campus life.