CHENNAI: Janani got a job in a software firm last year through campus placement . A high-scorer from a famous engineering college in Chennai, she knew her job, but results were hard to come by as she remained incommunicative with male colleagues . Soon, the HR found out the reason: As a student, she seldom spoke to men on campus. That was a college rule.

The rest of Chennai might have broken out of the conservative cocoon, but several professional colleges in and around the city, as a norm of ‘discipline,’ don’t allow students of opposite sex to talk to each other. While some parents and teachers are glad, thinking that they wouldn’t have to deal with ‘affairs’, the students and their prospective recruiters are worried about a deficiency in their social skills .

“Working in an office like mine is a challenge for people like me who come from these colleges,” said Janani. “On campus, talking to a boy is illegal; in office, it is a necessity as you have to interact with team members and bosses.”

Recruiters say this taboo on campus is taking its toll at the work place. “This practice has been prevalent in many city colleges,” said Somasajeevan, a HR professional and a guest lecturer in an engineering college. “I have recruited hundreds of students and found many of them lacking in social skills. Students from colleges with such restrictions find it difficult to network, communicate or grow in their careers. Healthy friendship in college helps them develop into better employees.”

Nasscom regional director K Purushothaman said, “An institution’s job is not only to provide students career-oriented education but also to help them develop their complete personality. A boy or a girl should be taught to be unbiased during their communication as their customer could be anyone.”

The atmosphere on many campuses can be stifling at best and insulting at worst. A student explains his experience thus: “I was talking to a girl when a professor came. We were shouted at. He asked if we were in love. He took away our ID cards and made us to pay a fine.” There have been cases of students being suspended.

In a few colleges, the rule applies even at canteens and on buses. Some buses have ropes or grills to separate rows on the right and left. In some others, the drivers double up as spies. “My college has separate canteens for boys and girls. In the bus, girls sit in the front rows and boys in the back. And we have teachers in the middle ,” said Varsha (name changed), of a popular campus in a popular university that has engineering and medical colleges.

Psychologists say it affects more than professional and social skills. “Such rules and constant moral policing makes things worse,” said psychologist Sangeetha Madhu. “Not having a healthy relationship with the opposite sex leaves youngsters with a guilty feeling when they do interact. It also makes them insecure when it comes to relationships.”