Ranchi University to make moral science mandatory to stop violence in the campus

In a bid to check growing violence and disrespectful behaviour among college students, Ranchi University (RU) has decided to include moral science lessons and classes on manners for its more than 2.5 lakh students.

The varsity has prepared a proposal to make moral science and etiquettes a part of the curriculum for all students and will submit it to Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu, RU vice chancellor Ramesh Pandey told HT on Tuesday. “The objective behind including these lessons in the curriculum is to instill respectful behaviour and check unruliness in students. We will hopefully incorporate the fresh lessons this year after getting the chancellor’s consent,” he said.

Unruliness among students and violence in the vicinity of college campuses have been a common problem in RU. Even professors here have complained of disrespectful behaviour of students towards them. Agitated students have locked vice chancellors in their cabins in the past. An undergraduate student of Kartik Oraon College in Gumla had stabbed the college principal in broad daylight in 2015.

There are 57 affiliated, 15 constituent and 22 PG departments under the varsity, spread across five districts — Ranchi, Lohardaga, Khunti, Gumla, Simdega — all Maoist-hit and mostly backward.

Educationists have welcomed the idea and have rendered their support to it. BS Tiwari, principal of Doranda College in Ranchi, said it was a necessity for colleges here to have a system of imparting manners and teaching how to respect.

“The respect for teachers, elders and even parents has gone down drastically here. We need such lessons to check the rough behaviour of students these days,” Tiwari said.

However, psychiatrists do not believe in the effectiveness of moral science lessons in checking unruliness. Dr. Siddharth Sinha, senior resident, Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences, said, “Moral science lessons can be of no help in checking unruliness. They will only be a waste of time and energy.”