The feeling of finally completing school and standing on the threshold of a new life i.e. of college is simply indescribable. But often there’s also a huge fear of ragging lurking at the back of most minds, which acts as a major dampener for all the excitement. And this fear is not unfounded as it’s a fact that college ragging has at times taken very ugly forms. What is normally supposed to be amicable welcoming of freshers into college life by their seniors sometime turn into gory act of physical and mental harassment. 

 

It is, as such, important that teenagers are provided a brief outline of what to expect out the first weeks of college. And if case serious ragging does occur, a student knows how he/she should deal with it. Ragging was meant to break the ice between the new entrants and the seniors. It was a fun-filled way to initiate the new students to the rigours of college life. But in recent times this practice has turned ugly. Every year we hear number of cases of severe physical ragging as well as sexual abuse during the ragging. This has a great adverse psychological impact on the personality of the students and the scars of such incidents take a very long time to heal.

 

So, how to handle college ragging? Go to the college with an open mind. If the ragging is in the form of a healthy banter and jovial leg pulling, enjoy it. But if it turns out to be nasty and you are forced to do certain things against your will don’t take it lying down. Report the matter to the appropriate authorities. These days every college has an anti-ragging squad in colleges. Such squads consist of volunteers who are responsible for keeping a check on unhealthy ragging among students. Get hold of the helpline installed by college authorities to counsel students on how to deal with ragging and whom to approach in such circumstances.