Hyderabad: Academic year 2010-11 will be a ‘Zero Ragging Year’ if state governor, E S L Narasimhan’s announcement on Thursday is taken seriously by universities in the state. Speaking at the vice chancellors’ conference held in the city on Thursday, the governor directed the participants to take active anti-ragging measures on their campuses to prevent such instances in the coming academic year.

    The governor said that the vice chancellors and principals of colleges in the state should take full responsibility of ragging acts. “The hostels should be under constant watch and even the parents and localities should be informed of the anti-ragging rule. All the students should be made aware of the fact that ragging is a criminal offence which can put a person behind bars for 10 years,” the governor said.

    The governor also asked the police officials to take action against principals of colleges who withdraw ragging cases after filing it in p o l i c e station. In the conference, K C Reddy, AP State Council of Higher Education (APSHCE), chairman, said that an interactive website on antiragging measures will be in place soon. “The blueprint of the website will be in place in two days,” K C Reddy said.

    The governor also pushed for introduction of minimum qualifying marks in Eamcet. “Some students did take admissions even after securing ‘zero’ marks in Eamcet 2010. Such cases have made the education system a mockery. Hence qualifying marks should be introduced for all students,” Narasimhan said. He said that even in IITJEE, minimum qualifying marks are given for
    engineering coll e g e s. Presently there are no qualifying marks for SC, ST and BC students in Eamcet.

    Meanwhile, referring to other issues in state universities the governor said that colleges which do not have enough infrastructure facilities should not be allowed to function in the new academic year. “New admissions can be stalled if a college is found lacking in infrastructure facilities,” the governor added. He said that action will be taken against all colleges which have been running courses without the All India Committee for Technical Education (AICTE) approval. He added that 32 such colleges have come to the notice of the state government.

    The governor, however, said that the practice of students grading teachers should not be followed in the universities. “While assessing the competence of teachers, students’ feedback should not be taken into consideration,” Narasimhan said.

    Speaking about research in universities he said that the research should be taken seriously and students who do not complete on time will have to be removed from the rolls. The governor also pushed for a common academic calender for all state universities.