‘Start counselling at school to check college bullying’

Kolkata: The process of identifying and tackling the factors that can lead students to isolate and torture their peers should start in school, well before they reach college and university, a cross-section of psychiatrists, counsellors and educationists have said in the wake of yet another similar case emerging from the Jadavpur University campus.More than 70 students on Wednesday zeroed in on Biswajit Pramanik, a PG computer science engineering (evening) student, confined him to a room in Block D of the Main Hostel and mentally tortured him, accusing him of stealing a laptop. They even made the youth, who has come from Purulia to study here, sign a fake confessional statement. The university’s medical officer, Mitali Deb, rescued Pramanik and admitted him to hospital in a “near-collapse” state. Wednesday’s horror came less than a year after a first-year boy in the Bengali department died following a fall from the second-floor balcony of the same Main Hostel on Aug 9, 2023, after suffering days of ragging.

Psychologists and counsellors called such behaviour ‘bullying’, which they said, the outcome of which could be dangerous, including lynching. Mental health experts said signs of such tendencies started in childhood and grew with age. Emotions, such as extreme anger and intolerance, needed to be addressed, counselled properly and treated. “Psychological guidance and intervention should be maintained from childhood. Communications, like how I will communicate my anger or aggression in a socially constructive way, needs to be learned from childhood,” said clinical psychologist Pooja Sengupta. “If someone can’t express anger to the authorities, it would be directed towards a weaker person, and this tendency is now increasing.” Child counsellor Shovona Mukherji said bullies sometimes grouped together and singled out a person, perhaps someone who could not retaliate, did not belong to the same group or was different from their kind. “Those in the mob may have a leader, who, in turn, may have insecurities. So, the root of the issue is we are not helping bullies, though they, too, need help. Possibly, they need group counselling,” she said. “Anger issues should be addressed right from the school level.” They also said colleges and universities should hold group counselling regularly. Educationists feel the role of the authority is important. Former VC Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury said, “All educational institutes should treat ragging and physical abuse with zero-tolerance. It is essential to foster understanding among students, teachers and staff to reduce such incidents. The university authority must take appropriate action to curb such issues.” Educationist Pabitra Sarkar said, “Students are growing less tolerant and their tendency towards crime is increasing. There must be some insecurity among them. Or they would not side with the mob instead of protecting their classmate/roommate, mostly out of fear of being singled out. The authorities must control such action.”