KOCHI: Kerala has witnessed three campus deaths by suicide in the past few weeks. Uncomfortable questions galore. They should unsettle society. In May, a 17-year-old girl was found hanging at Al Amin Arabic College in Balaramapuram, Thiruvananthapuram.
In the beginning of June, Shraddha, a 22-year-old student of Amal Jyothi College of Engineering in Kanjirapally, was found dead in her hostel room. And last week, Arun Raj A R, a second-year student of Thodupuzha Al Azhar College of Engineering and Technology, was found dead in his private hostel room near the college. A probe is on, and initial reports say he was having “family issues”.
In the Balaramapuram case, there were allegations that the girl was mentally harassed by an ustad and a female teacher. Later, it was found that she was allegedly in a relationship with an older man. “As per our probe, the girl was sexually abused by her lover a year ago. He has been arrested,” says Circle Inspector Vijay Kumar. “The probe is still on; we haven’t received any solid evidence to prove the reason behind the suicide.”
The family, however, maintains there was institutional harassment. There were allegations of mental torture by staff members in the Amal Jyothi case, too. Massive students’ protests erupted, and there has been a barrage of allegations against the college’s harsh curbs on students.
“If girls and boys are found together, teachers or the school manager will record them on cam, and confiscate their ID cards. It could be just two classmates talking to each other, yet the students are slut shamed and mentally tortured with character assassination,” says Thomas, a student of Amal Jyothi College.
“If the faculty members see us using phones after class hours, they’ll take it and force us to unlock our phone to check our chats. Isn’t this an invasion of privacy?” Thomas alleges that some teachers resort to deducting internal marks as ‘punishment’. “Religious ideologies are imposed on the students, too. Anyone opposing or questioning these could have his or her career derailed.”
‘No bath after 8pm’
According to the students, if a person is picked for “wrongdoing”, the college hostel will also get to know about it. “The warden would then call up our parents and exaggerate the situation, and also impose harsher restrictions,” says Zuhra.
“The hostel deadline is 6pm for girls. However, one of my friends has been instructed to be in by 4:30pm just because she was seen speaking to a male classmate.” The students also allege that college hostels have their own set of “absurd rules”. Students are not allowed to eat snacks, visit other students’ rooms, or even take a shower after 8pm.
“One of my friends had to write an apology for taking a bath at 10pm as he was feeling sweaty. Apology letters are sought if we listen to songs or have snacks after 8pm. It feels like being in a concentration camp,” says Abin, a mechanical engineering student.
“The majority of the students here are not vocal as they are scared of the management.” (When TNIE contacted the students, some of them were suspicious if it was a decoy call at the behest of the management to gauge the students’ response.)
‘Regular contact with parents’
Fr Jins Sebastian, a professor at the college, states the management or faculty have no problem with boys and girls interacting with each other. “We don’t have issues as such. But some spots – under the staircase, for instance – do not look good for healthy interactions,” he says.
“In hostels, the restrictions after 8pm are part of our terms and conditions, which were disclosed during the time of joining. The rules become a violation when students engage in activities that might disturb other students. From 8 to 11pm, it’s study time.”
Fr Jins adds that apology letters “act as proof” when parents are informed of such violations. “The college has regular contact with parents,” he says. “Also, the students who find such regulations ‘absurd’ lack interest in the course, or aren’t studious at all. The rest find the system to be non-problematic. The college and hostel require a silent atmosphere from 8pm to 6am.”
The issue is not just about Amal Jyothi College. Students of various colleges across Kerala have been railing against curbs of different kinds. Hostel restrictions seem to be a problem at Marian College, Kuttikkanam, too. “Combined study is a no-no,” says a student, Marvel.
“We are not allowed to use mobile phones outside the room. We should enter the hostel by 5.30pm. We are not supposed to visit other rooms. We can’t change the place of a chair or a bed. Basically, we are treated like boarding school children”
Religious bias?
At NSS Hindu College, Changanassery, students complain about moral policing and religious bias. “For some reason, interacting with an opposite gender is treated as a crime. There are teachers who sexualise such interactions; they accuse us of seeking pleasure in just talking with a student of the opposite sex,” says students’ chairperson Devaranjini.
“Also, some teachers invade our privacy by checking our bags. Also, in hostels, there is only one plug point – a common one outside the warden’s room. Students get just one hour each to charge phones.”
Devaranjini also alleges that the institution gives more prominence to Hinduism and “does not give due importance to other religions or celebrate non-Hindu festivals”.
Requesting anonymity, a professor at the college concedes that some teachers do engage in moral policing. On religious bias, he says: “Non-Hindu festivals are conducted, but not on a large scale. That’s because it is, after all, a Hindu institution and the majority of the students are Hindus.”
A circular of SN College, Kollam, recently went viral. It was a set of tour guidelines that got leaked. The rules included: boys and girls should not sit or click a pic together, and doors of the rooms occupied by girls will be locked from outside citing safety reasons. “These guidelines were old. The students ignored them and, subsequently, the circular was revoked,” student leader Vaibhav J R.
“However, moral policing does exist, mainly in girls’ hostels run by SN Trusts. Girls often get judged by their dressing, even what they wear inside the hostel. Once some miscreants flashed their vehicle’s headlight at the hostel, and the authorities questioned the modesty of the students and accused them of being over-friendly with boys.”
A lot of issues are caused due to the orthodoxy of teachers, says Gautham, a student of SB College, Changanacherry. “I believe an educational institution shouldn’t be aligned to any religion, but ours is. And teachers should ideally be the most modern people in the college. Unfortunately, that’s not the case,” he says. “Now, there are protests at our college as the management has decided to introduce uniforms.”
‘Harassed for not wearing shawl’
Melbina, a student who passed out from Assumption College in the same town, says female students regularly get slut-shamed. “Phones were confiscated both in the college and even in the hostels. Teachers would check the phones. My friends were forced to go for the holy mass every morning and evening. If they didn’t, they were humiliated,” she says.
“Some students were harrassed just because they didn’t wear a shawl with their churidar, which was apparently the only garment allowed on campus.”
‘Homophobic slurs, rape jokes’
Though government colleges are generally better off when it comes to personal liberties of students, there does exist friction due to culture and generation gaps. Aadhi, a student at the Government College of Teacher Education in Kozhikode, believes the institution functions “more or less like a private college”.
“Dress codes aren’t imposed in any government college. However, last year, when I wore a hoodie and half-pants to college, my appearance offended faculty sentiment, and one teacher passed a nasty comment. A case is going on in court,” he says.
Aadhi, who is queer, says despite being a college that trains future teachers, “it’s common to hear homophobic slurs and rape jokes during classes”. “Being a part of this institute, I’m learning all qualities a teacher shouldn’t be having,” he says.
“The majority of the students do not voice their opinions. They are indifferent, and meekly toe the line of teachers due to fear. The fact that these are people who are going to be teachers in the future is scary.”
What legal experts say
Adv K S Arun Kumar, vice-president of the district child council, says it is illegal to check the students’ phones. “Such instances violate Article 21, protection of life and personal liberty, and Article 19, right to freedom. However, in terms of general discipline, hostels can enforce the curfew. But that doesn’t mean they can impose restrictions like visiting another person’s room, taking a bath when required, etc. These are again violations of Article 21, which states no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, except according to the procedure established by law.”
Students can file complaints if any action violates their right to life and right to freedom. Adv Sandhya Raju, director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights Research and Advocacy, says, rules that prohibit uses of gadgets can be challenged. “Right to internet is a basic human right in Kerala. For students. that restrict access to information. These curbs can be reasonably challenged in courts,” she says.
Psychological impact
Dr Arun B Nair, consultant psychiatrist at Medical College Trivandrum, says rather than restricting students, teachers should empower them. “Reasonable restrictions are essential, especially when students disrupt public tranquillity. But limiting students’ interaction with other genders or forcing them to study in a restricted environment would hinder their social development. Also, it has been found students who study in such restrictive environments are not confident to express their opinions freely, as they suffer from rejection hypersensitivity,” he says.
Yet, some parents continue to send their children to such environments. “Parents are apprehensive of social issues and want their child to be in a protected environment. They want the students to attend class regularly, not fall into relationships, or use drugs, score good marks and get placed in good companies. They are not bothered about their children’s holistic development,” says Arun.
Names of some students have been changed on request