New UGC Guidelines Ensure Women’s Safety In Higher Education Institutions

With an aim to foster a safer and egalitarian environment in colleges and higher education institutions (HEIs), the University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced new guidelines that need to be followed.

According to the set of regulations, it is the duty of the institute to prioritise the safety and security of all students, specifically female students by creating a violence-free environment.

This notification comes at the right time when numerous colleges such as IIT Madras, Chandigarh University and Delhi University’s Miranda House have reported cases of crime against women.

This year itself the UGC had formed a committee and given it the responsibility to analyse and revise the safety regulations to be implemented. The committee praised the efforts of the UGC for creating a study called “Saksham: Measure for ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitisation on Campuses.” It proposed that Saksham serves as a manual for implementation of gender sensitisation initiatives in higher education institutes.

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Here are some of the points in the guidelines issued by the UGC:

• Every college, university and educational institution must establish an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). This provision is in existence, but it is not abided by thoroughly.

• The UGC recommended that during the time of admission, every new student should get a handbook with all the information on the policies and guidelines required for proper conduct.

• At the time of an emergency, all the contact details of ICC members, student counsellors, anti-ragging cells, health centres and other university authorities should be included.

• For treatment of students’ psychological and mental health problems, on-campus professional counselling services should be accessible to all.

• CCTV cameras with a centralised monitoring system should be installed to keep a track of the conduct and activities of students, staff members and visitors in all public spaces on campus such as streets, playgrounds, libraries, sport arenas and parking lots.

• There should be more female security officials from known security companies employed in campuses.

• The institutions must be required to submit a report every quarter to the UGC regarding the steps they are taking to ensure safety and security of female employees and students on the campus.

• There should be more female dormitories and every female student who needs dormitory accommodation should be given access to it.

• Boundary wall requirements are especially important for campuses located in remote, out-of-the-way, or isolated territories to ensure student safety.

• Universities must promote a zero-tolerance policy with regard to sexual harassment and gender-based prejudice on campus.

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