What is ragging and what are its effects in colleges?


Ragging is a practice in colleges, hostels and other educational institutes where the senior or an influential person tends to demoralize and defame the juniors through the means of verbal or physical abuse and harassment. The term ragging is more prominent in the countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In other countries, the same practice has different terms associated with it.

Different forms of ragging exist due to the following key reasons:

Considered as a form of entertainment

  • The senior who have stayed for a slightly longer time in the system of the college have an extraordinary sense of superiority. This feeling makes them feel that they possess the power to suppress someone who is junior and inferior to them.

  • For the seniors, the evils of mockery and tease remain a form of entertainment. They feel joy and enthusiasm in troubling their juniors and see them in pain.

  • This is also due to the psychological disorder present in some of these students. They practice ragging for their satisfaction without understanding the repercussions that the juniors will face who are already vulnerable to the new surroundings.

Seniors have been victims of ragging themselves

  • This is considered by many experts as the passing of your emotions and experiences on to someone else.

  • The senior in their early years sometimes experience brutal forms of ragging and harassment by the then seniors. This leaves an impression that it is a mandatory convention to do the same with their juniors as well.

  • Hence, ragging should be completely eliminated from its roots itself to prevent its expansion and growth.

No stringent action by college authorities

  • Sometimes the ragging culture is strong in some colleges because of the authorities not getting involved in the issue properly and not understanding the gravity of the situation.

  • The student council also remains passive to such issue and there are no stringent actions taken right at the beginning.

Students have strong influence

  • There are many colleges where the practice of ragging exists due to the influence of the students.

  • These students come from a lucrative background and possess political and bureaucratic contacts.

  • These students utilize their money and muscle power in the practice of ragging. In such cases, people are silent to raise their voices against such students.

Effects of Ragging

  • The victims of ragging suffer maximum in forms of depression, isolation, demoralization and many other forms of detrimental effects on the personality.

  • In extreme cases, the victim can even commit suicide due to the mental pressures that develop over a period of time.

  • If ragging is not terminated at any point, the entire learning atmosphere is vitiated.

  • There will be a constant fear and tension in the mind of every second student that she/he might be the next victim of ragging.

  • The free and liberal atmosphere in learning tends to vanish in such colleges or institutes.

Updated on: 30-Jul-2019

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