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The Odisha government has received eight complaints related to ragging, sexual discrimination and harassment from female students of various colleges and universities in a period of two years, Higher Education Minister Suryabashi Suraj told the state Assembly on Friday.
Responding to a written question by BJD MLA Arvind Mahapatra, the Higher Education Minister said his department had received complaints from six colleges and one university.
He said the government has received two complaints from girl students of Government Autonomous College, Rourkela, while other allegations have been received from FM Autonomous College, GM University, Abhimanyu Samant Singhar Degree College, Athamalik College, Anchal College and DAV Autonomous College, Titlagarh.
He said that in order to prevent such sensitive incidents at the level of higher education institutions in future, the department has issued guidelines to all state public universities and colleges under the department to encourage students to avail ‘Tele-Manas’ national mental health helpline, which provides free, 24×7 tele-counseling support.
Additionally, individuals interested in the self-assessment tool can also access the Tele-Manas mobile application, he said.
The Minister further said that the department has also issued directions for implementation of the UGC Regulations, 2023 to ensure a fair and transparent system for grievance redressal in universities and colleges.
The UGC regulation also calls for the establishment of student grievance redressal committees at the institutional level and the appointment of an ombudsman at the university level.
He further said that this mechanism includes issues like admission irregularities, non-transparent assessment, delay in scholarships or certificates, discrimination, harassment and lack of infrastructure.
“Each institution will resolve complaints within the prescribed time limit. Protection of complainants from harassment has also been made mandatory,” Suraj said.
Furthermore, the state government has launched the “Shaktishree” scheme, a statewide initiative aimed at ensuring safety, security and empowerment of women in universities and colleges.
Under the initiative, each institute will set up a ‘Shaktisree Empowerment Cell’, which is a women student-centric cell, which will be coordinated by a woman faculty member and a woman student, the statement said.
It said the cell will focus on promoting safety, self-defense and emotional well-being among students and staff, thereby promoting safer and more inclusive campuses in the higher education ecosystem.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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