Govt to roll out action plan to curb bullying in schools
NEWDELHI:Acting on the report of a six-member government-appointed committee which conducted a psychological study of ragging in higher educational institutions and bullying in schools, the central government will soon roll out an action plan to curb the menace in schools across the country, a senior government official said.
Bullying in schools will soon come under the purview of Union human resource development (HRD) ministry. The university grants commission (UGC), which is concerned over the number of cases of bullying in schools, especially residential schools, has decided to write to the ministry’s school education department in this regard.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the ministry’s higher education department secretary last month to review the measures taken so far to check the menace of ragging in higher educational institutions and bullying in schools.
“The UGC has been directed to write to the school education department for implementation of the committee’s recommendations for putting a check on instances of bullying in schools,” the official cited above said.
Senior officials of the ministry and those of various regulatory bodies have favoured implementation of the recommendations of the committee, which had interviewed more than 1400 students from six schools — four in Bengaluru and two in Delhi — as part of its study. The panel noted in its report to the UGC in 2015 that almost 40% students had undergone “some kind of ragging,” 35.1% faced “mild ragging” and 4.1% were subjected to “severe ragging”. The committee, headed by a faculty member of JNU, had recommended making schools more inclusive and promote diversity.
It said that a significant proportion of the students (41%) reported that “a full range of aggressive behaviours” including social aggression and aggression on social media was “commonly seen” in the schools.
It also suggested that complaints of ragging received by any institution, their status and the satisfaction level of the complainant’s parents be reported to the ministry on a monthly basis.