KOCHI: For school students in Kerala, understanding court proceedings at the High Court has become easier thanks to an initiative launched by the High Court Legal Service Committee (HLSC) called ‘SAMVADA’.
The programme aims to educate students from Class 8 to PLus Two, under the State Board, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus, about court proceedings and the legal system, to instill civic values and create responsible citizens.
The first batch, the students of Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram will visit the HC on April 10. As per the project, the students will have a 45-minute guided tour of the High Court of Kerala in the different court halls, libraries, and administrative offices.
There will be an assessment of the student group which will extend a maximum of 20 minutes after the presentation. The first three winners of the evaluation will be awarded badges of honour with the tagline “...I am a civic citizen”. The awardees of these badges can use the badge throughout the academic year. However, the badge will be taken back if they face disciplinary action in the school for misconduct or misbehaviour.
The school students can have a 10-minute interactive session with Judges of the High Court. The project is aimed to aware of several matters including-History of the High Court, the Hierarchy of Courts in the Judicial system, the Rule of Law, the Constitution of India, Laws relating to Crimes and Punishment which include Pocso law, the law relating to sexual offences, NDPS, cyber crimes, etc. relating to Senior citizens and parents.
The schools shall contact the Secretary, HLSC, and the Secretary in turn shall allot slots to the schools for their visit. The Secretary shall make necessary arrangements for the smooth conduct of the visit of the children in consultation with the High Court Registry, said authorities of HLSC. This project was conceived by Justice A Muhamed Mustaque who is the chairman of the High Court Legal Services Committee.