Ragging: Cause for or symptom of outdated higher education system?

LET me start with a multiple-choice question (MCQ) for you to choose the best answer.

- By Chandrasena Maliyadde

Question: Who is responsible for university ragging?

Answers: a) Society, b) Ministry, c) UGC, d) VC, e) Management, f) Academia, g) Media, h) Parents, i) Students

1. Background

There have been articles written, discussions held, and statements issued by varying personnel about university ragging after the recent tragic death of a second-year student at Sabaragamuwa University. The President has issued a strong condemnation of ragging in Sri Lanka’s universities, calling it an outdated and criminal practice that must be eradicated from the country’s higher education system. Many others have joined the chorus and stressed that students found guilty should be severely punished.

No doubt, ragging has become brutal, intolerable, and criminal. No civilised person or a responsible citizen would condone ragging of any nature. There is no argument that whoever is found guilty should be punished. Wherever it originated and in whatever form it takes, ragging is unacceptable. Considering its inhuman nature, ragging needs to be eradicated.

Dream of Sir Ivor Jennings

Sir Ivor Jennings, in his inaugural speech during the opening of the University of Ceylon at Peradeniya, stressed that the role of a university is “to train young men and women who are capable of fulfilling any function in the world that may fall to their lot, citizens of high intelligence, complete moral integrity, and possessing energy, initiative, judgment, tact and qualities of leadership”.