Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has received eight complaints relating to ragging, sexual discrimination and harassment from women students of different colleges and universities over a period of two years, Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj told the state Assembly Friday.
Replying to a written question from BJD legislator Arvind Mohapatra, the Higher Education minister said his department has received the complaints from six colleges and one university.
The government has received two complaints from female students of Government Autonomous College, Rourkela, while other allegations were received from F M Autonomous College (Balasore), G M University (Sambalpur), Abhimanyu Samanta Singhar Degree College (Jajpur), Athamalik College (Angul), Anchal College (Bargarh), and D A V Autonomous College, Titlagarh (Bolangir), he said.
To prevent such sensitive incidents in the future at the level of higher education institutions, the department has issued guidelines to all state public universities and colleges under the department to encourage students to avail the ‘Tele-Manas’ national mental health helpline (14416), which provides free, 24×7 tele-counselling support, he said.
In addition, individuals interested in self-assessment tools can also access the Tele-Manas mobile application, he added.
The minister further said that the department has also issued instructions for the implementation of UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 to ensure a fair and transparent system for grievance redressal in universities and colleges.
The UGC regulation also asked for establishment of Student Grievance Redressal Committees (SGRCs) at the institutional level and the appointment of ombudspersons at the university level.
The mechanism covers issues like admission irregularities, non-transparent evaluation, delay in scholarships or certificates, discrimination, harassment and infrastructure deficiencies, he further said.
“Each institution shall resolve complaints within prescribed timelines. Protection against victimisation of complainants has also been mandated,” Suraj said.
Moreover, the state government has launched the “Shaktishree” scheme, a state-wide initiative aimed at ensuring the safety, security and empowerment of women in universities and colleges.
Under the initiative, each institution will establish a ‘Shaktishree Empowerment Cell, a female student-centric cell coordinated by a woman faculty member and a female student, the statement said.
The cell will focus on promoting safety, self-defence and emotional well-being among students and staff, thereby fostering safer and more inclusive campuses across the higher education ecosystem, it added.
PTI