Code of Conduct for Students, Principal, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff
Code of Conduct for Students
[A]. Conduct The codes depicted underneath shall apply to all sorts of conduct of students within the College premises and their off-campus mannerisms which may have serious consequences or adverse impact on the Institution’s interests or reputation. At the time of admission, each student would have to sign a statement consenting to abide by the framed codes and should also affirm undertakings that,
(i) The student shall be regular in the classes and must complete his/her studies in the Institute.
(ii) In the event, the student is forced to discontinue studies for any legitimate reason, he/she may be relieved from the Institution subject to the written consent of the College Authority.
(iii) In case of relieving the student, he/she shall have to clear all pending dues and if the student had joined the Institute on a scholarship, the said grant shall be revoked. The College believes in promoting a safe and efficient climate by enforcing behavioural standards. All students must uphold academic integrity, be respectful to all persons, to their rights, to the college property and to the safety of others. All students must deter from indulging in any and all forms of misconduct including partaking in any activity off-campus which may affect the Institute’s interests and reputation substantially. The various forms of Misconduct, the Students should refrain from, include:
1. Any act of discrimination (physical or verbal) based on an individual’s gender identity, caste, race, religion or religious beliefs, colour, region, language, disability, marital or family status, physical or mental disability etc.
2. Intentionally damaging or destroying Institute’s property or property of other students and/or Faculty members & Support staffs.
3. Any disruptive activity in a class room or in an event sponsored by the College.
4. Inability to produce the identity card, issued by the Institution, or refusing to produce it on demand by campus security personnel.
5. Participating in activities including:
i) Organizing meetings and processions without permission from the Institution.
ii) Accepting membership of religious or terrorist groups banned by the Institution and/or by the Government of India
iii) Unauthorized possession, carrying or use of any weapon, ammunition, explosives or potential weapons, fireworks contrary to law or policy.
iv) Unauthorized possession or use of harmful chemicals and banned drugs.
v) Smoking within the College campus.
vi) Possessing, consuming, distributing, selling of alcohol in the Institute and/or throwing empty bottles on the campus of the Institute.
vii) Parking a vehicle in a no parking zone or in the area earmarked for parking of other type of motor vehicles, cycles etc.
viii) Rash driving on the campus that may cause any inconvenience to others.
ix) Not disclosing a pre-existing health condition, either physical or psychological which may cause hindrance to the academic progress of the student.
x) Pilfering or unauthorized access to the resources of others.
xi) Misdemeanor and/or exhibiting disruptive attitude at the time of Students’ body elections or during any activity of the Institute.
xii) Engaging in disorderly, lewd or indecent conduct including, but not limited to, creating unreasonable noise, pushing and shoving, inciting or participating in a riotous or group disruption at the Institute.
6. Students are expected not to interact, on behalf of the Institution, with media representatives or invite media persons on to the campus without the permission of the Institute authorities.
7. Students are not permitted to do recording of either audio or video of the lectures delivered in class rooms, actions of other students, faculty or staff without prior permission.
8. Students are not permitted to provide audio and video clippings of any activity on the campus to print and/or electronic media without prior permission.
9. Students are expected to be careful and responsible and exercise restraints while using the Social Media. They should desist from posting derogatory comments about other individuals of the Institute and refrain from indulging in such other related activities having grave ramifications on the reputation of the Institute.
10. Thievery or abuse of Institution’s computers and/or other instruments and Institution’s services are not allowed. Unauthorized entry, tampering of property or facilities of private residences of Teaching/Support staff, offices, classrooms, LAN connectivity and other restricted facilities and interference with the work of others is punishable.
11. Causing damage to, or destruction of any property of the College, or any property of others on the Institution premises would invite punishment.
12. Making video/audio recording, taking photographs, or streaming audio/video of any person in a location causing thoroughfare into the person’s privacy without his/her knowledge or consent, is punishable. If there is a case against a student for any possible breach of the mentioned codes of conduct, then a committee will be formed, which shall inquire into the alleged violation and accordingly recommend suitable disciplinary action against the said student. The committee may give a hearing to the student to ascertain the misconduct and suggest one or more disciplinary actions based on the nature of misconduct.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is essential for the success of an Institution and its research missions as well, and hence its violation constitutes a serious offence. The Policy on academic integrity, forms an integral part of the
Code which applies to all students of the Institution to which they should adhere. Failure to uphold these principles threatens both the reputation of the Institution and the value of the degrees awarded to its students. Every pupil of the Institution should feel responsible to ensure the highest standards of academic integrity.
The principles of academic integrity require that a student should
i) Properly acknowledges and cites use of the ideas, results, material or words of others.
ii) Properly acknowledge all contributors to a given piece of work.
iii) Make sure that all assignments in a course are submitted by his/her own.
iv) Perform academic activities without the aid of impermissible materials or collaboration by obtaining all data or results by ethical means and reports them accurately without suppressing any results inconsistent with his/her interpretation or conclusions.
v) Have right to pursue their educational goals without interference.
Anti-Ragging
The Institution has a coherent and an effective anti-ragging policy in place which is based on the ‘UGC Regulation on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘UGC Regulations’). The UGC Regulations have been framed in view of the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to prevent and prohibit ragging in all Indian Educational Institutions and Colleges.
Ragging constitutes one or more of the following acts:
a) any conduct by any student or students whether by words spoken or written or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any student;
b) indulging in rowdy or undisciplined activities by any student or students which causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship, physical or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in any other student;
c) asking any student to do any act which such student will not in the ordinary course do and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame, or torment or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of such a student;
d) any act by a senior student that prevents, disrupts or disturbs the regular academic activity of any student;
e) exploiting the services of a student for completing the academic tasks assigned to an individual or a group of students;
f) any act of financial extortion or forceful expenditure burden put on a student by other students;
g) any act of physical abuse including all variants of it: sexual abuse, stripping, forcing obscene and lewd acts, gestures, causing bodily harm or any other danger to health or person;
h) any act or abuse by spoken words, emails, post, public insults which would also include deriving perverted pleasure, vicarious or sadistic thrill from actively or passively participating in the discomfiture to any other student;
i) any act that affects the mental health and self-confidence of any other student with or without an intent to derive a sadistic pleasure or showing off power, authority or superiority by a student over any other student.
Gender Discrimination and Allied Harassment:
The Institution’s stand on prevention and prohibition of sexual harassment at workplace shall apply mutatis mutandis to the students of the Institute which can be accessed and reviewed by the students as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Students should note that sexual misconduct or harassment encompasses a range of conduct, including but not limited to sexual assault, unwanted touching or persistent unwelcome comments, e-mails, or pictures of an insulting or degrading sexual nature, which may constitute harassment, which shall depend of the circumstances of each case.
Code of Conduct for Non-Teaching Members:
In Silicon City College, all the non-teaching members, who are considered as the support staff of this College, should follow the code of conduct stipulated by the Institution. The College has put forward its code of ethics for the support staff along the following lines:
Professional Conduct
(i) The support staff should acquaint themselves with the College policies and adhere to them to their best ability.
(ii) Each of them should perform the duties he/she has been assigned sincerely and diligently as well as with accountability.
(iii)They should avail of leave with prior intimation to the extent possible. In case of sudden contingencies, information on their absence should be promptly forwarded to the College Authority.
(iv) The support staff should not, on any account, undertake any other job within the stipulated office hours. Neither shall he/she engage himself/herself in any trade or business within college premises.
(v) They should not hamper the functioning of the college by engaging themselves in political or anti-secular activities.
They should not engage in remarks or behavior that might be considered disrespectful to their non-teaching colleagues, teaching staff or students.
Workplace Conduct
(i) They should be punctual as their prior presence is required daily for the commencement and smooth functioning of college activities.
(ii) They should also be responsible for the proper use and maintenance of college equipment and furniture.
(iii)No support staff should be under the influence of drugs or alcohol during office hours.
(iv) The support staff often has access to confidential information regarding examination matters and other matters relating to other staff, through official records. It is expected that they respect the confidentiality of such matters.
(v) They should perform their duties with honesty and integrity. There should be no falsification of official documents entrusted to them.
(vi) The support staff should show no discrimination on basis of gender, caste or religion.
Code of Conduct for the Principal:
The chair of the Principal of a college has got multifaceted roles to play and to shoulder multilateral responsibilities having characteristics of a patron, custodian, supervisor, administrator, adjudicator, protector, inspirer and so on. As the Academic and Administrative Head of the Institution the Principal remains liable to follow certain codes of ethics in his conduct as proclaimed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in tandem with the guidelines framed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
These codes of conduct are applicable, in general, for the College Teachers as well as for the Administrator of any organization. Specifics of the salient and significant codes applicable in the conduct of Principal, as perceived and enforced by Silicon City College, K.R. Puram, Bangalore, are jotted underneath:
1. To uphold and upkeep the ethos of inclusiveness in terms of imparting education in the institution.
2. To protect the collective interest of different sections of the institution so that each and all can perform freely and give their highest for the institution building.
3. To institute, nourish and enforce equal treatment to all the stakeholders in the College so that there remains no scope of any discriminatory and disparate practice at any level within the stretch of the College.
4. To uphold and maintain the essence of social justice for all the stakeholders irrespective of their caste, creed, race, sex, or religious identity as within the framework of Indian Constitution.
5. To create and maintain an unbiased gender-free atmosphere within the periphery of the College so that all the stakeholders enjoy equal opportunities.
6. To generate and maintain required alertness among all the stakeholders of the College so that the chances of incidents of sexual harassment get ever minimized and ultimately eradicated. (The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace: Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act, 2013 will provide the redressal measures of issues related to sexual harassment within the boundary of college campus.)
7. To initiate and propagate the spirit of welfare within all the sections of human resources attached directly or indirectly with the College and hence to build mutual confidence amongst them.
8. To maintain and promote academic activities in the College in all possible avenues already explored and thus encourage exploration of newer avenues for further academic pursuit.
9. To create an environment conducive for research oriented academic parleys and thus promote research activities in the institution to add further to the knowledge pool.
10. To uphold upkeep and enforce discipline in the behavioral manifestation of all the stakeholders of the institution and thus maintain campus-serenity required for academics.
11. To promote and maintain the practice of extra-curricular activities amongst the students and other human resources of the institution and thus adds to the societal dynamism simile to essence-of-life.
12. To endeavor for the upkeep of tranquility of the region surrounding the College so that academic practices comes to gradual prevalence and only prevail, eventually.
13. To promote and maintain harmonious relationships of the College with the adjoining society in order to ensure spontaneous flourish and prosperity of all the students of the institution.
14. To endeavor and strive for maintaining vibrancy of attitudes of all the stakeholders of the institution and thus to nourish & enhance their capabilities.
As the academic head of the institution, the Principal should ensure the existence of an academic environment within the College and should endeavor for its enrichment by encouraging research activities. Thus, the Principal should put best efforts to bring in adequate infrastructural and financial support for the College. The Principal should encourage the faculty members of the Institution to take up research projects, publish research papers, arrange for regular seminars and participate in conference/symposium/workshop/seminars.
Code of Conduct for Teachers:
Being the cadres of Silicon City College, the teachers of the College should follow the code of conduct laid down hereunder. But they are also subject to the guidelines provided by UGC for college teachers. As per UGC guidelines whoever adopts teaching as a profession assumes the obligation to conduct himself/herself in accordance with the ideals of the profession. A teacher is constantly under the scrutiny of their students and the society at large. Therefore, every teacher should see that there is no incompatibility between his precepts and practice. The national ideals of education must be his/her own ideals. The basic ethical values underlying the code are care, trust, integrity and respect; embodying those aspects relevant to the teacher, who is entrusted with social responsibility.
A definitive code for this Institution encompasses the following:
[A]. Professional Values
(i) Be concerned and committed to the interests of the students as the foremost aim of the teaching profession
is to educate. This attitude should be directed towards the specific needs of each student. They should be
conscientious and dedicated and if necessary, should help the students beyond class hours without accepting any
remuneration.
(ii) They shall not prevent any student from expressing thier viewpoint although it may differ from that of his/her own. On the contrary, the student should be encouraged. Among other things, a teacher should accept constructive criticism.
(iii) They should try to develop an educational environment. Equal treatment should be meted out to all students irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender or socio-economic status. There should not be any partiality or
vindictive attitude towards any of them.
(iv) Their aim should be to inspire students to generate more interest and develop a sense of inquiry in the pursuit of knowledge.
(v) The teacher should instill a scientific and democratic outlook among his/her students, making them community oriented, patriotic and broad minded. This is a part of his/her social responsibility.
(vi) Above all a teacher should conform to the ethos of his/her profession and act in a dignified manner. He/She should keep in mind that society has entrusted him/her with their children.
[B]. Professional Development and Practices
(i) It may be conceded that learning has no end. It is imperative that a teacher continuously updates themselves in his/her field and other related ones in order to upgrade themself and the student community. He/She must also acquaint themselves with recent methodologies and other applications.
(ii) A teacher must, alongside teaching, pursue research as innovation contributes to the continuous progress and development of a subject.
(iii) He/She should involve themselves in seminars and workshops where there is an interchange of academic topics. A career long professional development is therefore a necessity.
(iv) Developing new teaching strategies and curriculum as well as planning for an upgraded academic system should be an integral part of his/her professional duties.
(v) The teacher will have to carry out the Institution’s educational responsibilities such as conducting admissions, college seminars and so on. He/She should also be participating in extra-curricular activities of the College such as in sports, extension activities and cultural programmes. This will generate a holistic development and a
congenial relationship with the students.
(vi) The teachers shall regularly update their work diary, notes of lesson and shall submit the same to the respective HoD's/Principal.
[C]. Professional Integrity
(i) Teachers must maintain ethical behavior in professional practice by accurately representing certifications, licenses and other qualifications.
(ii) Honesty should not be compromised in research. Plagiarism is an evil that cannot be accepted at any cost. The aim should be to improve quality of research.
(iii)There should be no conflict between professional work and private practice. Private tuition's should be avoided as they negatively impact upon the quality of college teaching.
(iv) The teacher must respect the confidentiality of all information regarding exam affairs as well as matters dealing with colleagues and students unless legally or legitimately demanded.
[D]. Professional Collaboration
(i) Teachers should be respectful and cooperative towards their colleagues, assisting them and sharing the responsibilities in a collaborative manner.
(ii) Teachers should refrain from lodging unsubstantiated allegations against their colleagues in order to satisfy vested interests.
(iii)Teachers should discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the established rules outlined by the higher authorities and adhere to the conditions of contract.
(iv) Teachers should refrain from responding to unnecessary political motivations as these ruin the sanctity and smooth progress of an educational institution. This is more so as the Institution is located in a vulnerable border area.
(v) Teachers should accord the same respect and treatment to the non-teaching staff as they do to their fellow teachers. The Institution should hold joint meetings before upholding any decision regarding the College.
(vi) There should be regular interactions with the guardians of the students as this is necessary for the improvement of the students and the Institution.
(vii) Despite the commuting distance, the teachers should refrain from taking unnecessary leave and maintain regularity for smooth functioning of the college.
(vii) Teachers must adhere to the dress code and timings as prescribed by the college authorities
Professional Relationship
(i) Interactions between support staff and students are frequent, as for example during counselling, admissions, disbursement of financial aid, examinations and so on. On a regular basis the students come into contact with support staff in libraries, science laboratories and computer laboratories. It is expected that they behave in a helpful, friendly and patient manner towards the students.
(ii) The support staff should give due respect to the decisions made by the college authorities. Any matter of contention should be settled amicably and not through antagonistic behavior, as the progress of an institution depends upon mutual goodwill and trust.
(iii) The non-teaching staff should consider the teaching staff as their colleagues and not as separate entities. It is the shared functioning that will generate a harmonious environment.
(iv) The Support Staff are the first to come into contact with the guardians of students as during examinations. They must keep in mind the fact that their behavior will be considered to reflect that of the institution. They should thus interact patiently and politely.