AS PART of its ongoing year-long centennial celebrations, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has planned a special orientation campaign to make students aware of the “ill-effects of western culture.” The campaign, to be held on the university’s campus, will begin next month. For this, the university will constitute a panel of teachers, students and doctors who will “counsel boys against whom complaints of eve-teasing and misbehaviour with girl students” have been reported. During “counselling”, the members of the panel will reportedly ask students to explain “how they would feel if someone indulges in objectionable behaviour with girls in their families”. BHU’s Public Relation Officer Rajesh Singh said the campaign’s objective is “to make students aware of what is right and what is wrong”. [related-post] BHU authorities are of the opinion that “only laws and rules cannot stop crime against women” and that there was “a need to also bring a positive change in the youths’ mindset”. The campaign was recently announced by the university’s vice-chancellor, G C Tripathi, who said occasions such as Valentine’s Day, which are part of western culture, “should not be celebrated on the BHU campus”. During the campaign, teams of professors will go to the hostels, classes and places on the campus where students gather, and impart lectures on “moral values and ethics”. Teams of professors will visit hostels, classes and other places of gathering of students on campus, and will deliver lecture on moral values and ethics. The panel of teachers, accompanied by staff of proctorial board and “intellectuals from the society” — non-BHU staff — will dine with students in the hostels, regularly visiting them for orientation, Singh said. Additionally, students would be urged to “remain alert” about the ill-effects of the western culture such as “live-in relationships” and “misuse of Internet”, he added. “A skill development centre has also been established where students will be taught about Yoga, meditation and personality development.” At present, the BHU has nearly 33,000 students enrolled in various courses.
