students in government schools and colleges in Chandigarh so that they
can help the poor and the needy get better access to justice.
Student Legal Literacy Clubs in these institutions will be a unique
platform for spreading legal literacy among people who have no access
to it.
The first of the clubs has already been set up at the Government Model
Senior Secondary School in Sector 8 here. The National Service Scheme
(NSS) coordinator at each school would head the club.
Pritinder Sodhi, NSS coordinator for the Sector 8 school, said, "The
student community is a great observer of society. They know the harsh
reality of all sections of society. We intend to train students so
that an awareness campaign can be launched in a very big way to make a
qualitative change in the lives of the common people."
Each club, comprising students from Class 9 upwards, will have a
minimum strength of 10 members and a maximum of 25 select students.
"At least six literacy classes to train students would be held every
year in every high school or college where the club has been
established by the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA)," said
Jagdeep Jain, member-secretary of SLSA.
"Representatives or advocates of SLSA will take classes to brief club
members along with the teacher in-charge about the modus operandi of
legal services offered by SLSA, pre-litigation settlement of disputes,
Lok Adalats and alternate disputes redressal," said Jain, who is
himself a senior judicial officer.
The services of local judicial officers, administrative officers,
experienced advocates and law teachers may also be availed of in the
legal literacy classes, he said.
The aim of the programme is to make member-students act as a bridge
between people in need of legal aid and various bodies providing legal
services.
"The primary function of the students would be spreading legal
literacy awareness. They would identify people in need of legal
services and refer them to the nearest legal services institution,"
said Jain.
Students will be told about laws and welfare schemes of the government
relating to women, children, laborers, people below the poverty line
and those suffering from mental or physical disabilities.
This will also cover people otherwise remaining disadvantaged or
marginalized in society.
Basic legal procedures in criminal cases like the first information
report (FIR), arrest, bail and different forums available to litigants
will be taught.
SLSA has prepared reading material like leaflets in local language for
empowering the student-members. Other teachers of the schools would
also receive basic training.
"Student legal literacy clubs are to be formed with an idea to spread
the knowledge of legal rights and duties among the illiterate, the
poorer and the deprived sections. They will also give legal
suggestions for their various problems. The legal literacy and legal
services programme will be provided to students without causing any
detriment to their study curriculum," Jain added.
Renu Puri, principal of the government school where the first club has
started, said, "The students who would be running the clubs would have
to be trained first for them to disseminate knowledge."
Each club is supposed to organize camps, hold rallies and make
door-to-door visits in the neighboring areas of the school to educate
people about legal issues.
"Various complexities, which often crop up in cases of domestic
violence and dowry-related violence, will be told to people,
especially women. The volunteers would also offer legal counsel to
victims," an SLSA member said.
The clubs would be required to organize activities regularly and send
the report to SLSA.
Chandigarh has nearly 110 government schools and 30 government
colleges and other institutions. There are over 125,000 students in
all these institutions.
The city, which is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, has a
population of over 1.05 million. The literacy rate is 86.4 percent.
IANS
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