Unruly students to be counselled against creating ruckus on bus

Soon after the colleges were reopened after the second wave, there were several complaints from the public that students were regularly creating ruckus and travelling dangerously on the footboard of the government buses.

In addition, several videos of students travelling on footboards of buses and trains had emerged and circulated on social media. The Tamil Nadu police have also launched a campaign to create awareness among the students on the dangers of travelling on the footboard of buses and trains following the complaints.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department said even the State government has specifically sent circulars to the department to look into the issue seriously.

Accordingly, the Directorate of Collegiate Education and the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) have been asked to instruct the vice-chancellors of universities and principals of engineering, polytechnic, arts and science colleges to nominate and appoint nodal officers to deal with student issues.

“Each nodal officer will identify problematic students and offer necessary counselling to them to avoid footboard travelling and causing inconvenience to the public. The students will also be given counselling to not assault drivers and conductors on government buses,” he said.

The official said, in addition, the nodal officers will continuously monitor the identified students’ activities to streamline them towards academic improvement.

“All Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been asked to send an action taken report to the authorities concerned in the Higher Education Department,” he added.

The official also said there will be regular review meetings involving officials from education, transport and police departments.