Girls more sensitive to issue of ragging than boys: Study

Updated on: Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Girls are far more logical and sensitive than boys on the issue of ragging, says a new survey that found that many students still believe in the myth that the practice helps in personality development.
The summary findings by an anti-ragging NGO whose representative toured 28 universities and colleges in different parts of the country also said that students with language, caste, region or religion that are in minority in an institution are usually the worst victims of ragging.

During interaction with students, it was found that many of them have several misunderstandings about ragging and they think that it helps in their personality development, helps them to become strong and face difficult circumstances in life and aids bonding between the students, according to the NGO.

"It was seen that girls were far more logical and sensitive on the issue of ragging. It was easier to convince and explain the irrationalities behind ragging to girls than
to boys," it said.

Regionalism plays a significant role in ragging, it said adding that students are often ragged on the basis of which region or state of the country they come from.

Harsh Aggarwal, the co-founder of NGO Coalition to Uproot Ragging (CURE) who gave presentations on ragging and screened anti-ragging documentary to more than 5,000 students, mainly from engineering and medical colleges, said debate on this subject is a taboo in most institutions. "College heads, faculty and students don't want to talk much on it," he said.

"Students with characteristics (language, caste, region, religion, economic background) that are in minority in a particular setting are worst victims of ragging," according to the findings.

Such students feel suffocated and they usually wanted to speak privately after the presentation, Aggarwal said.

The report said most of the institutions give a common response on the issue of ragging -- that the university or college has taken all preventive steps. "Colleges feel that only putting up anti-ragging posters on campus and taking affidavit from the students would make their institution ragging-free," Aggarwal said.

Girls more sensitive to issue of ragging than boys: Study

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