Cyberbullying es ragging

Cyberbullying es ragging, tratarlo como tal

 

Abhishek Choudhari | Mar 11, 2015, 03.15 AM IST

Nagpur: Cyberbullying, lo que generalmente significa el acto de acosar a alguien en línea mediante el envío o publicación de mensajes medias o fotos, es una amenaza cada vez mayor y ya ha superado a las formas "tradicionales" de la intimidación en las escuelas, de acuerdo con los académicos. Ahora la Junta central de Educación Secundaria de la India (CBSE, por sus siglas en inglés) también ha reconocido la amenaza y envió una carta a las escuelas el pasado lunes, recomendando varias medidas para hacer frente a la intimidación cibernética.

La Junta Central parece haber tomado conocimiento serio del fenómeno porque la carta es muy amplia e incluso sugiere la suspensión permanente del estudiante  encontrado culpable de acoso, incluyendo el acoso cibernético.

La Junta, conocida generalmente por tratar estas cuestiones con manos suaves, dijo que las escuelas como acción punitiva pueden retener o incluso cancelar los resultados de exámenes de los estudiantes culpables. Mientras que el CBSE ha mencionado castigos menores, así como advertencia oral y escrita, la intención y el tono de la carta no deja duda de que va en serio.

El Director Académico de la Junta, Sadhana Parashar, escribió, "…la responsabilidad de prevenir cualquier aspecto indeseable de la intimidación y las novatadas, recae en forma

conjunta y también individualmente en todos los interesados, que incluye al jefe de la institución, al profesor, al personal no docente, a los estudiantes, a los padres así como en  la comunidad local. Se necesita una respuesta sistemática al problema de la intimidación en las escuelas... la intimidación tiene efectos perjudiciales graves en los que son intimidados. Los efectos pueden ser inmediatos; pero también pueden ser a largo plazo, y pueden causar daños para toda la vida".

El cyberacoso es rampante en las escuelas con estudiantes que recurren a grupos de WhatsApp para difundir rumores o incluso la orientación de los hábitos alimenticios o la apariencia física de la víctima. En casos extremos, se transforman las fotos que se han subido a Facebook a través de cuentas falsas, difundiéndolas sólo el tiempo suficiente para lleguen a la escuela para así hablar sobre ello. Dijo un director de alto nivel, "Es lamentable, pero es la verdad. Las víctimas callan porque no quieren ser ridiculizados más y simplemente rezan para que la tormenta pase, y el matón encuentre un nuevo objetivo. La tecnología se ha convertido en una herramienta peligrosa en

manos de esta generación que simplemente no se da cuenta de lo perjudicial que son sus acciones para los demás."

Parashar también señaló la triste realidad en casi todas las escuelas donde los casos de acoso escolar fueron silenciados, y solucionados "internamente". Esto último significa llamar a los padres de los estudiantes afectados y darles de una advertencia verbal.

Junto con la advertencia, es común que los directores adviertan a todas las partes interesadas que no deben discutir este tema de nuevo. Esto deja en última instancia al matón en posición triunfal respecto a la víctima, marcada ya mentalmente y sin la posibilidad de defenderse a sí misma debido a la prohibición impuesta para volver a hablar de ese episodio nunca más. Parashar escribió, "…el bullying a menudo no se reconoce como un problema importante y que se supone ínfimo y, por tanto, no se presta mucha atención a su ocurrencia."



Cyberbullying, una amenaza

(A) ¿Qué es el acoso cibernético?

El CBSE la ha definido como "el envío de mensajes SMS desagradable, fotografías o correos electrónicos, a la víctima o a los demás".

(B) ¿Está el cyberacoso castigado por la ley?

Los delitos cibernéticos son tratados conforme a la Ley de Tecnología de Información del 2000  pero el experto legal Mahendra Limaye aclara que no es aplicable a los menores. "Dado que todos los alumnos de las escuelas CBSE son menores de edad, no puede haber entonces  un proceso penal en contra de ellos. Para otros delitos, obviamente, el sistema de justicia de menores sería lo procedente. Actualmente hay una propuesta para disminuir la edad para procesamiento penal por delitos cibernéticos, por lo que en el futuro podría

cambiar esta restricción…", dijo.

(C) ¿Qué medidas preventivas no aconsejaría la Junta?

CBSE sugiere la formación de un comité contra el acoso escolar que comprende personal de la escuela, experto legal, consejero, la gestión y los padres. También recomendamos la colocación de los avisos en todo el campus de la escuela con fuertes mensajes dejando claro que el acoso no será tolerado y que es punible. CBSE quiere currículo de formación docente para incluir este tema.

(D) ¿Por qué el acoso escolar siempre es escondido bajo la alfombra al barrer?

Las escuelas, a diferencia de los Colleges afiliados a Universidades, trabajan de una manera muy cerrada y el sistema de apelación es inexistente. El Director de una escuela es su máxima autoridad, y toma la decisión final; siempre es probable que niegue las acusaciones

de intimidación y persuada a las partes involucradas a "sólo seguir adelante", para que el nombre de la institución no quede mancillado. A nivel universitario, los estudiantes son más maduros emocionalmente y las múltiples alianzas existentes entre éstos ayudan a proporcionar una plataforma que permite plantear estas cuestiones.

(E) ¿Qué medidas recomienda CBSE contra estudiantes culpables de cyberbullying?

CBSE ha sugerido suspender de la escuela a los estudiantes culpables si se trata de un caso “más raro de un caso raro". La Junta recomienda dar una advertencia oral o escrita, también la suspensión de la asistencia a clases o a la escuela por un período determinado, la retención o la cancelación de los resultados de exámenes, la imposición de multa hasta un monto determinado, e incluso la transferencia de un estudiante de una escuela a otra.

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Fuente:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Cyberbullying-is-ragging-treat-it-as-such-CBSE/articleshow/46522406.cms

Enlaces relacionados: 

• Ragging: An insane practice in Indian Higher Education 
• Ragging. Kolkata Ragging Row: Student slapped 40 times 
• Ragging: Film "3 Idiots" in ragging row 

Seniors admit to ragging but deny abuse

 

 

Seniors admit to ragging but deny abuse

Published: Thursday June 5, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Thursday June 5, 2014 MYT 7:21:00 AM

 by r.s.n. murali

MALACCA: Ten seniors implicated in a ragging incident at Universiti Putra Malaysia have come forward to ask forgiveness from the parents of the freshmen.

MIC Youth deputy chief R. Thinalan said six of the parents accepted the apology and were awaiting response from another father.

“I spoke to the seniors and they admitted to the ragging but they claimed they never went overboard by forcing them to perform lewd gestures.

“They were distressed as their reputation has been marred by the allegation,” he said yesterday.

On Tuesday, seven UPM freshmen alleged that they were abused by 10 seniors, including being forced to strip and perform lewd acts on each other during ragging at the university hostel.

In the incident that allegedly happened from midnight to 4am last Thursday, the freshmen claimed they were forced to strip down to their underwear while their seniors took pictures of them.

They were then allegedly forced to perform lewd gestures, including grabbing each other’s private parts and touching their nipples while dancing to music.

Thinalan said the parents of the freshmen wanted him to settle the matter amicably without getting the seniors suspended because they would be sitting for a major examination soon.

“They are willing to forgive and forget after the seniors repented over their actions. MIC Youth will arrange for the meeting with one more parent to close the chapter,” he said.

One of the seniors told The Star that only one of the freshmen was adamant about punishment for the alleged abuse. He said they never went overboard. 

“We know our boundaries and the consequences of severe ragging.” 

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Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/06/05/Seniors-admit-to-ragging-but-deny-abuse-Ten-say-sorry-to-freshmens-parents/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

HEMEROTECA: Sri Lanka show tackles 'horror' of new student rituals

NEWS ASIA

Sri Lanka show tackles 'horror' of new student rituals

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo 
8 October 2012 Last updated at 00:01 GMT

 

                        

While some argue that ragging is an equalising ritual which transcends ethnic divisions, 

others say it is worse than bullying

Gangs fight, tumble from scaffolding, swing across the stage acrobatically; youths in drag enact a Sinhala-language mini-farce, to roars of laughter.

A young gay man is hanged upside down by his legs and commits suicide by drinking poison, leaving the audience horrified.

There is a constant musical backdrop of choruses and sophisticated dancing. The show is so physical that some actors have suffered injuries.

This is Rag, Sri Lanka's first homegrown musical, which has just been playing in Colombo. 

It depicts ragging, the often violent university initiation rituals common to several South Asian countries.

 

Lick toilet bowls

 

The show's creator, director, composer, choreographer and lead actor, Jehan Aloysius, 35, has been         working on it well over a decade - but only now has the final version appeared. 

                                                

Although ragging has been illegal since 1998, there have been few or no prosecutions.

 

He wanted to depict resistance to what he calls the "absolute horror" of ragging. 

Just before he went to Colombo University in 1997, two young men had died of ragging on Sri Lankan campuses involving enforced push-ups and alcohol consumption, internal bleeding and kidney failure.

Earlier a girl was paralysed when she fell off a balcony while fleeing raggers: She later committed suicide. 

"When I got my acceptance letter, rather than elation I felt horrified and I hid the letter from my mother," Mr Aloysius told the BBC. "She found it four months later." 

When he started his higher studies he considered feigning illness to avoid ragging, which is inflicted on "freshers" by senior students. 

In the event he was spared the worst practices but says some contemporaries had to lick toilet bowls, eat food mixed with cockroaches or strip naked. Those who stayed in hostels had it far worse, he says. 

Yasmin, a Muslim woman who studied at Sri Jayawardenepura near Colombo in the 1990s, believes Jehan Aloysius "presented the anti-ragging message well" by leaving the audience shocked. 

Her own ragging lasted seven months. Some acts were harmless but others were not. 

'Blood, sweat and tears'

 

"Girls had to run around on the basketball court in the hot sun," she said. "Some of the physical ragging      was so intense that some girls later developed complications in their wombs."

                                           

In some cases ragging victims have either been killed or beaten unconscious 

 

In "bucketing", the final ragging ritual for full initiation, she had to crawl through a makeshift tunnel before being soaked with a bucketload of liquid. It was not water. 

"They collected the outflow from drains, sinks, maybe sewers, for months. They put worms in it and let it ferment." 

Mr Aloysius cast Rag with people new to the stage who could, however, sing well. 

He auditioned 250 young people for 12 lead roles. During the trials he asked students about ragging at their colleges.

"They'd freeze, they aren't allowed to talk about it," he said. "After six months of "blood, sweat and tears [rehearsals] they shone."

Mr Aloysius plays the lead character, Joseph, who starts a non-violent anti-ragging movement but conflicts with Rukmal who says it must be violently resisted.

There are autobiographical and biographical elements.

One leading female character, Natasha, is loosely based on Avanti Perera, a contemporary of Mr Aloysius and the show's main instrumental musician. 

Sociology of ragging

 

In the play as in reality, ragging involves dictating a dress code. 

"I went to the campus in a luminous green miniskirt and rainbow top. One English lecturer said, Here comes trouble," Ms Perera recalled. Senior students threatened to strip her but that was as bad as it got.

If there's a message I want to bring out, it's that campuses and educational institutions should be spaces of non-violence”

Jehan Aloysius 

Rag Director and composer

Rag the musical depict excesses like that experienced by Avanti.

Departing from its biographical model, the character Natasha is raped and two youths, including the lead, eventually die - one in a fight.

A former victim of ragging who reviewed the show, Kumar de Silva, felt the rape scene was excessive but others point to the power of the violent material.

There is a sociology of ragging.

Those associated with the show told the BBC that it has often been directed especially against students from the English-speaking elite. 

Many of the anti-ragging students in the musical are from the English faculty.

And in recent Sri Lankan history it has been associated with the JVP, a radical leftist party that is highly influential on campuses and which waged a guerrilla insurrection of shocking violence in the late 1980s. 

Milder ragging has its supporters as an equalising ritual which seems to transcend ethnic divisions.

"We were ragged by the seniors. I wanted to hit them at the time. But today they are very close friends of mine," says Arshad, a former student. "It created a good bond. But it should have limits."

                                                         

Rag the musical has received rapturous audience ovations

 

He and his batch-mates had to write and read out sexual stories, dance or pretend to propose to girls. For him it lasted six weeks and got no worse.

Jehan Aloysius, however, is still haunted by hearing of a ragging-related death in 2002 after he wrote the show's first draft.

The victim was repeatedly hit while unconscious.

He hopes the show will persuade the audience that the practice is more than just bullying.

Ragging has been illegal since 1998 but there have been few or no prosecutions.

"If there's a message I want to bring out, it's that campuses and educational institutions should be spaces of non-violence," he says.

The standing ovations for the show's run in Colombo suggest its message is getting through.
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Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20097878

RAGGING: AN INSANE PRACTICE IN INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Ragging - An insane practice in Higher Education

Interview of Harsh Agarwal* by 'An Education Magazine'

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

1.   Do you think the incidents of ragging have fallen in 2010? If yes, will you attribute this to presence of a stringent and in a sense a deterrent law or awareness as a result of intense media focus following some cruel incidents?

     It is very difficult to say whether incidents of ragging have increased or decreased in any particular year. We keep a track on cases that are reported in English media across India and based on that we compile our annual statistics. Total number depends on how actively media reported incidents of ragging in that particular year. Nevertheless this is a good indicator to understand how rampant and widespread ragging is, its severity, and to study various sociological aspects associated with it. But this doesn’t necessarily give a good trend of annual rise or fall in incidents. However if we compare present situation with what it was 10 years ago then certainly there is a slight decrease in the overall trend. Colleges are a little scared now or are at least forced to show that they are concerned about it. Ten years ago ragging was considered a normal phenomenon, nobody used to talk about it, today it is a social issue.
     Yes stringent laws have definitely played a role in reducing the incidents and degree of ragging in recent years. But I think that effect has somewhere reached its saturation as well. Too much focus on deterrence alone and our failure to punish the offenders (colleges and students involved in ragging) is setting a bad example and soon this deterrence would also fade way.


2.  Do you feel, incidents are still under reported and the tradition or malaise of ragging is so deeply entrenched that it will need more time and effort to end it from campuses?

     Incidents of ragging are highly underreported. We don’t get to hear even a minute fraction of the actual number of incidents taking place- which is for obvious reasons. Ragging is done in an organised manner under extreme secrecy. There is tremendous fear in the minds of freshers in filing complaint. They know that the consequences of compalint could put their career and life at stake and thus prefer to bear the torture. College authorities also try their best to suppress the incidents to save the reputation of the institution. Moreover, ragging has a general acceptance on the campus. People have been seeing this for past several years and thus don’t find anything wrong about it. This acceptance and psychology behind ragging is so strong that victim himself becomes a perpetrator in a short span of twelve months.

     Laws have been made and ragging has been banned but the practice is still rampant because the concept continues to exist in the minds of the people. We therefore need a comprehensive awareness and education to change the thinking of the people. We have to engage our students and faculty in debates and seminars on ragging to make them think and understand the insanity behind this concept. Only then we would be able to wipe out ragging. Yes this would be a gradual process and would take time and effort and I don’t see any short cut solution to this problem.


3. You have met and spoken with many heads of institutions in various parts of country, could you summarize the attitudes, impact of no-ragging campaign and their knowledge about ragging in their campuses?

     In my interaction with the heads of institutions I have felt that their general attitude is to avoid any discussion or activity related to ragging. Because of the strong laws, it is now a taboo to talk about ragging. On the other hand, college-heads don’t take no-ragging campaign seriously. This attitude is generally shown by heads of government-run and established colleges. They find themselves in safer position and are perhaps not concerned about the Supreme Court guidelines and not worried about getting into trouble in case they fail to check ragging in their institution. Also I have come across principals who condemn ragging in any formal conversation but inside their mind they are ardent supporter of it. But there are also principals, who are genuinely worried about ragging in their institution and make all possible efforts to curb it. I have met some such principals and professors who are sincerely making efforts to prevent ragging. I think we need to highlight their efforts and inspire others by this.


4. Is it true that hostels are places that breed the menace of ragging? Are there any historic, societal or psychological reasons? Is there any program that sensitizes wardens?

      Yes hostels are places that mainly breed this menace. In fact worst cases of ragging usually take place inside hostel premises or in paying guest accommodation around campus areas. It is so because ragging inside the four walls of a hostel room provides a general sense of security to seniors. Moreover, students in hostels have strong bonding and are organised in group, which ensures that nobody would raise voice against ragging. Intrestingly freshers are ragged badly in hostels on pretext that this would help in developing bonding with their hostel mates. Also during my visit to colleges across India I saw hostels in deplorable condition. Students don’t get basic amenities in hostels, food served in the mess is of poor quality, there are no facilities for extra-curricular activities for the students and now we have so many new colleges which are situated on highways, far away from main city. I believe all this somewhere does affect the psyche of the students and they then think of seeking entertainment from ragging.

     Wardens are aware about ragging in hostels but generally don’t take action because like the freshers they are also scared of the consequences. Raghavan Committee has made several recommendations to improve hostel administration and tackle ragging but those recommendations have not been implemented by colleges.

5. Discrimination is practiced even in ragging, does it reflect social bias and inequality?

        Ragging is an excellent example that highlights how deep-rooted the practice of discrimination is even among the educated class of our society. In majority of professional colleges across India, students are discriminated and are ragged on the basis of which region or state of the country they come from or the caste or religion they belong to. Students with characteristics (language, caste, region, religion, economic background, etc) that are in minority in a particular setting are worst victims of ragging. They feel extremely suffocated and low and because of this they are often not able to perform well in studies.

    Given the extent of diversity we have in our country, I think it is imperative for us to have school education that inculcates feeling of unity and brotherhood in our youth.

6. What kind of support is offered by your group and how do you plan to take your work forward?

         CURE is primarily a research and advocacy group trying to establish public opinion against ragging. We regularly publish research reports, produce audio-visual content and use them to create awareness and educate masses to change the mindset towards ragging. We also conduct seminars and workshops in colleges across India. CURE is soon launching a ‘CURE Ambassador’ programme which would encourage students to take up awareness programme in their college. We are planning to expand our reach and activities to more number of colleges in India. We also do media advocacy and work with the government bodies to bring effective policy change to address this menace.

7. Some people are of the opinion that bullying in schools is the early signs of ragging leadership, have you come across any link?

      Bullying is an act of teasing or humiliating someone mainly based on the person’s characteristics such as physical features, accent, ethnicity, religion, ability, gender, economic background, etc. I feel that bullying is a milder form of ragging and it won’t be wrong to say that it is like a seed that germinates into ragging. However we don’t need to go to a school to see bullying. We can experience bullying and find bullies in our daily life. Bullying can happen at home, school, college, workplace, or any other public place.

       Bullying is a primitive human behaviour in which you humiliate someone to establish your supremacy. Advance societies look down on bullies. Several countries in the west have made bullying a serious punishable offence. This tendency can be best curbed at young age.


8. Not many people are coming forward to lend support to this campaign, your comment.

       There are several reasons behind this. Firstly, people don’t consider ragging as a serious issue and have a tendency to compare it with other bigger problems in the country and find ragging trivial.

        Secondly, there is a strange paradox in ragging. Victims of ragging who are expected to join anti-ragging campaign and raise voice themselves become perpetrators and supporters of this menace. I blame the education system of our country for this anomaly. Our education is based on rote-learning rather than on reasoning and discussion. This dull method of education leads to lack of individual thinking and strong thought process in students, and encourages herd-mentality and makes them susceptible to brain washing. It is for this reason that students so easily get influenced by their seniors and never question the illogical reasoning given to justify ragging. Violence and humiliation are so contrary to education. It is shocking to see educated youngsters involved in something which is irrational and gross. Perhaps our model of education is failing to serve the purpose what education is actually meant for.


9. Lastly, could you summarize your personal story that led to your initiation into this cause.

        In the year 2000 I qualified 4 All India/State level medical entrance exams and joined MLN Medical College in Alllahabad. For a month, I was ragged so badly that I was left with no other option but to leave the college. Later I pursued government ministries for two years to get transfer to any other medical college that I had qualified. But this never happened. My case was even taken up by NHRC but that too was of no help. It was a rude shock to me as I had never heard of such a phenomenon (ragging) before it actually happened with me. More shocking was the casual response of the people whom I came across during those two years. It was difficult for me to comprehend that something like this exists in our higher education and that most educated people like doctors and engineers are involved in it. I started looking for an organization working on ragging but was disappointed to find nonet. Then one day in July 2002, while surfing internet I came across two students, Varun Aggarwal and Mohit Garg who were running a website and a yahoo group against ragging and we soon joined hands to work for this cause Today after 10 years of journey with CURE when we see activists coming forward to take up this issue, media writing about ragging, movies being made on this issue, court taking serious view of it and society condemning ragging, we feel happy to see this change but at the same time we know that a lot still needs to be done to eradicate this menace from its roots.



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*) Harsh Agarwal is a authorised spokespersons for CURE, Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education, a non-profit organisation dedicated solely towards the elimination of Ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and freshers in Indian Universities.




Source: http://themenaceofragging.blogspot.com/2011/07/ragging-insane-practice-in-higher.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheMenaceOfRagging+%28CURE+Ragging+Editorials%29

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