[DailyTimes] College ragging not flagging

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By Saif-ur-Rehman

LAHORE: The long summer break is over and classes have re-started at the city’s colleges. Some students are new entrants, while the rest have been promoted to higher classes.

The new entrants are nervous about their unfamiliar surroundings and huddle together for a sense of security. This insecurity does not stem from a fear of the new campus or of teachers or of the course of study. They fear what freshman all over the city fear: being ragged.

Ragging is the systematic ritual physical and psychological abuse of freshmen or other juniors by their seniors in an educational setup, with the purported intent of socially inducting the newcomers into the group. It is widely practised in schools and colleges across the world and includes verbal and physical ragging.

Daily Times conducted a survey of various colleges and talked to freshman and seniors about the first day at college.

Lahore School of Economics: Most MBA-I and 2nd year bachelors students uderwent some sort of ragging. Most of it was verbal and nothing serious. Qasim Zia, an MBA-I student, said he was told to stand on top of a table in the main cafeteria and sing his favourite song. “Everybody at the café joined in and sang along. It was a lot of fun,” he added.

Mehvish Saleem, a 2nd bachelors student, said raggers told her to give them all the money she had in her bag. “The raggers ended up making Rs 3,000. The money was well spent on a round of drinks for all at the café. The ice has been broken and everyone knows me now,” she said.

Mohsin Khan, an MBA-II student, told Daily Times that his group caught hold od a junior and made him sit in a murgha position for five minutes. “We also took money from him and treated the entire MBA-II batch to drinks,” he said, adding that he was never physical with juinors.

Lahore University of Management Sciences: Freshman at this institution have to undergo a more serious kind of ragging. Ragging styles range from standing on one foot for a long time to measuring a large courtyard with a ballpoint cap.

Ali Jan, a freshman, said he was told to do front rolls in the football field. “The field was wet and I got mud in my ears and clothes. The best part about all this was that I went home to change my clothes and did not return,” he added.

Alia Haider, another freshman, said raggers told her to go up to 10 boys and introduce herself to them. She said, “It was a bit embarassing because I am a bit shy. The boys were sweet about the whole affair.”

Beaconhouse National University: This year seniors at BNU went around taxing the new students and made about Rs 500 per head, but spent them on treating the freshmen. They also caught hold of a couple of boys, made them stand on tables and strut like models.

Osmanul Amin, in his last year, said the raggers filmed the boys and would keep the shots in their archives. “Maybe, at the end of the term, they make a video of their college experiences and add these shots in them,” he added.

National College of Arts: Seniors at NCA are most creative when it comes to ragging freshman. Zara, who graduated from NCA in 2002, said she was asked to hug a tree in the middle of a courtyard and scream on the top of her lungs ‘mein tum say pyar karti hoon’.

Ashraf Azhar, another graduate, said, “We would keep a Rs 1,000 note next to the gate and stand around watching who would pick it up. The first freshman to pick it up got it from us. We would start screaming ‘chor, chor’, which would be very embarassing for him or her.”

All students Daily Times talked to said ragging was not bad or harmful as long as it was not physical. They said seniors knew their limits and would not push freshman. “This is common culture and we have come to accept it. It has a positive effect on the personality of the freshman and helps with breaking the ice amongst students. We are being ragged today. Tomorrow it is us who will be doing the ragging,” said LSE freshman Asma Obaid.