Assessment of proportion of ragged students, negative outcomes and perception on ragging and knowledge about anti-ragging act of Sri Lanka among first year students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ragging is a one of the important problem facing the higher education system of most countries. It is hard to eliminate unless implementation of effective interventions which are planned according to the available local data. Although most of the higher educational institutes in Sri Lanka have eliminated ragging with the aid of available data, no studies have been conducted up to now amongst students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka.AIMS: Our aim is to assess the proportion of ragged students, negative out comes and perception on ragging and knowledge about anti- ragging act of Sri Lanka among first year students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka.METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted over twelve months among the first year students who belong to 2017/2018 academic year of selected faculties of Eastern University Sri Lanka. Our sample size was 371 and a pre designed questionnaire which assessed negative outcomes and perception on ragging and the knowledge on anti-ragging act of Sri Lanka amongst students was the tool of our data collection.RESULTS: Total of 371 participants was recruited for this study. Around 76.3% of students were experienced at least one form of ragging during their first year of university life. There was a significant portion of students (84.4%) had an awareness about anti-ragging act of Sri Lanka. Almost all who were ragged have experienced one or more forms of negative outcomes (100%). Among ragged students vast majority of students (84.1%) had negative perception towards ragging. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of the students experienced at least one form of ragging with negative outcomes though they had awareness on legal act. Appropriate strategies for the prevention and elimination of ragging among Eastern University students should be developed.