Ragging; Its Evolution and Effects: A Literature Review with a Special Reference to Sri Lanka

Abstract

Ragging in basic sense consists of use of humiliation to socialise new comers who enter in to educational institutions. It is an international phenomena dates back to hundreds of years. The article attempts to bring together literature relevant to ragging, paying more attention to the Sri Lankan context. Although it is an act of humiliation, in extreme conditions it can cause physical, behavioural, emotional and social problems among victims. In Sri Lanka state universities are known as a common place of ragging and currently more attention is paid due to the incidents reported regarding extreme conditions that are highly traumatic. Literature highlights that ragging is associated with student politics in Sri Lankan universities. There are many negative outcomes of ragging and stress is of the significant negative outcomes. However, according to existing literature ragging has positive effects such as socialising students coming from deprived backgrounds.