Moral Police

Tamil Nadu can boast and take pride in saying that it has the maximum Engineering colleges which are recognised by the AICTE, the statutory authority. Students throng this centre in quest for higher education that will represent quality in terms of wisdom and knowledge. one of my friend's daughter got admission in one of the faculties in a popular engineering college on the much talked about OMR road in chennai. This is also supposed to be the IT corridor and is expected to develop as a very posh southern colony in south Chennai city with numerous multi-storey ed buildings, posh Malls, theatres etc.. The young girl was in for a rude shock when the students were handed over a printed pamphlet of dos and don ts and warnings if adherence was not up to the desired levels!! one such don ts was that the girls should not wear Jeans pants or a T-shirt as it would probably provoke boys to indulge in wrong doings!! another point was that the hair should not be let loose and instead tied up neatly as a phony-tail preferably with flowers in true sense and letters of our life style! Probably by doing this, the authorities might feel that the girls are disciplined and bound by culture? Another major warning was that no girl or a boy can talk to each other and if any one found guilty of talking can be punished and even dismissed from the college!!! Besides prohibition of cellular phones, the college also allows the girls to go our only on one weekend from the college. The guardian or the parents have to send a fax to the college authorities if they want their daughter to be allowed to go out on any other weekend!! Now, what do you call this?? doesn't it sound like whats going on in Afghanistan?? Why such strict morale policing and is there any law which empowers the college management to frame their own strict rules and regulations?? The girls who joined the college were asked to wear only salwar-kameez and the dupatta pinned on either side of the shoulders for making a photo-id !

Like my friend's daughter, many of those who joined the college were seen repenting about their choice of institution and seen sulking imagining the tough time that they will be forced to withstand for the next 4 years at least?

According to me, college is not only as institution for learning but also a place for exchange of culture, equality and confidence building so as to brave the future. Most of the colleges in Tamil Nadu practices this trend by separating boys from the girls and vice-verse whereby they are forced into a situation of celibacy. This could lead to great mis-understandings specially after the marriage as neither would know how to talk or deal with their respective spouses!! The boy or the girl may try and avoid coming face to face because of their college back ground and this could lead to serious post marital complications leading to increase in number of divorces amongst the newly married?

Its time that our Education Ministry takes a note of this and issue suitable directives to all the institutions in the country not to drive a divide in the gender which may lead to Homo-sexuality or Lesbianism, if not dealt with properly. I reckon college is a place where both the boys and the girls should be allowed to mix freely, exchange views and knowledge. The college should also address a situation when the man gets a job with an MNC bossed by a capable woman to whom he has to report on daily basis. Can the college management prevent such a situation??

Let us accept the reality and realise that co-education leads to absolute confidence in both the boy and the girl alike,helps them to stand up to any situation and to face the challenges of future. This will also lead to better understanding of a person or should I say Human-being??