Local Goa News

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Drugs abuse cause for worry in colleges: Governor

PANAJI: Though officials appreciated the near-zero cases of ragging in colleges in Goa at the 8th meeting of the state-level anti-ragging monitoring cell, they expressed worry over the drug consumption problem in educational institutions in the state.

The governor and Goa University chancellor Mridula Sinha who chaired the meeting, said there was a need to study why there were no ragging cases in Goa as compared to other parts of India. But added that the problem of drug consumption in educational institutions was a matter of concern.
The governor suggested that senior students in colleges could be trained in counselling to counter the shortfall of counsellors and said that regular performance reviews of counsellors should be carried out.
"The primary quality of a counsellor should be the ability to maintain trust and confidentiality," she said. If required a syllabus for counsellors could be framed, she added.
Higher education secretary Nila Mohanan said that as a motivational measure students working to stop ragging would be issued certificates of appreciation.
Vice-chancellor of Goa University Varun Sahni, said that the word 'freshers' should be banned from the lexicon and instead terminology such as new students would be more apt.
He raised the issue of people coming to the Goa University campus in the evenings to drink. He said that they were finding it difficult to manage the situation in the absence of proper street lighting in the campus and lack of required security.
Dr Jagdish Kakodkar, representative of Goa Medical College, spoke about the need to prevent suicide cases among students for which he said counseling was crucial.
The meeting was attended by the director of education, director of technical education, director of higher education, director of NIT, dean of IIT, representative of the Goa Dental College, director of BITS Pilani, director of Goa Institute of Management, among others.

TOI Goa News

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