Internships for IDIA (INAT) Team

What is the IDIA?

The IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) Movement started off under the leadership of Professor Shamnad Basheer of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) as a movement to eliminate the inequities of education. Some very disturbing statistics reflected a complete lack of diversity, with a majority of the students clearing the entrance tests for these Universities hailing from the upper middle socio economic class bracket. The IDIA team set itself up, first in NUJS, and then in other National Law Schools throughout the country, as an attempt to question and change these statistics. The aim is to provide access to the resources required to crack the entrance exam to students from marginalized communities and regions, who would not be able to get access to them otherwise.

What does IDIA do?

Local IDIA Chapters have been set up in different parts of India. These local chapters have conducted aptitude tests in the respective states, and have started an intensive training programme for those who did well, and those who are interested in pursuing law as a career. A lot of students were found to be initially very apprehensive about their career prospects, but enough information was disseminated in this regard to convince most of them about the advantages of this career choice.

IDIA also selects students for the training program through its exam called IDIA National Aptitude Test which is held every year in several centres across the country.

Last year INAT helped us select some of the most deserving IDIA scholars. 14 out of the 50 scholars trained by IDIA made it to various National Law Schools, including NLS, NALSAR, NUJS, NLIU, GNLU etc. through CLAT 2011.

What Will Interning With the IDIA Mean?

Interning with the IDIA will mean being part of the teaching process for the IDIA scholars and interacting with IDIA scholars and other volunteers. This is an immense opportunity, more so for law students, because the IDIA Scholars are not only exceptionally bright, but also extremely keen to learn about the Law, and understand its various facets. While most students would cherish the process of teaching in itself, the IDIA experience is that much more of a process of self-discovery in that it deals with children who have managed to devise incredibly ingenuous ways of learning for themselves.

This internship presents the opportunity of being part of something extraordinary, something that might change the face of legal education in the country, but will definitely change your paradigm of life.

Requirements

All interns will be expected to help with a wide variety of work. For instance, we require volunteers to help us with registration for INAT which would be conducted on 6^th November 2011 in 16 cities in the country. Volunteers would be required to be available on phone, take calls from students who have queries regarding law as a career, National Law Schools, scholarship provided by IDIA etc. They would be working for a month as a part of the registration team for INAT, helping students get registered for the exam.

Volunteers do not need to be based at any particular location in India - they would only be required to be available on phone and email everyday during this one month.

No specialised experience or training is required and they can feel free to come up with new, innovative modes of reaching out to more students and schools across the country to spread the word about INAT and in turn help us select the brightest students as IDIA scholars.

This would be a paid internship and all interns found to have worked in a committed manner by the end of the stipulated time period will be granted certificates for their efforts signed by Professor Shamnad Basheer, on behalf of the IDIA Initiative.

For further details, feel free to email Diptoshree Basu at dbasu3@gmail.com or call at 09831063675.

Diptoshree Basu

INAT Co-ordinator

Intern with IDIA, Sikkim Chapter

WHAT IS IDIA?

The IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) Movement started off under the leadership of Professor Shamnad Basheer of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) as a movement to eliminate the inequities of education. Some very disturbing statistics reflected a complete lack of diversity, with a majority of the students clearing the entrance tests for these Universities hailing from the upper middle socio economic class bracket. The IDIA team set itself up, first in NUJS, and then in other National Law Schools throughout the country, as an attempt to question and change these statistics. The aim is to provide access to the resources required to crack the entrance exam to students who would not be able to get access to them otherwise.

WHAT DOES IDIA DO?

Local IDIA Chapters have been set up in different parts of India. These local chapters have conducted aptitude tests in various chapters, and have started an intensive training programme for those who did well, and those who are interested in pursuing law as a career. A lot of students were found to be initially very apprehensive about their career prospects, but enough information was disseminated in this regard to convince most of them about the advantages of this career choice.


In addition, the IDIA has been pushing relentlessly for reforming the CLAT. These concerted efforts have resulted in the CLAT Committee agreeing to various affirmative measures—for instance, removing the section on static general knowledge, and legal knowledge completely from the paper. The rationale is to test the aptitude of the students, rather than the knowledge.


WHAT WILL INTERNING WITH IDIA MEAN?


Interning with the IDIA will mean being part of the teaching process for the IDIA scholars. The subjects to be taught include English, Logical Reasoning, Legal Reasoning, General Knowledge and Maths (grade ten level). This is an immense opportunity, more so for law students, because the IDIA Scholars are not only exceptionally bright, but also extremely keen to learn about the Law, and understand its various facets. 


While most students would cherish the process of teaching in itself, the IDIA experience is that much more of a process of self-discovery in that it deals with children who have managed to devise incredibly ingenuous ways of learning for themselves. This internship presents the opportunity of being part of something extraordinary, something that might change the face of legal education in the country, but will definitely change your paradigm of life.


REQUIREMENTS


All interns will be expected to help with a wide variety of work. For instance, they may be expected to conduct weekly classes, act as scribes for practice tests, help in analysis of test results etc. The internship programme will extend to at least four weeks. All students who have graduated from school, and are currently enrolled in a course in Law or are graduates from the same, are qualified to apply. Selections are subject to the discretion of the Internship Cell. No specialised experience or training is required and you can feel free to come up with new, innovative modes of teaching and working.


All interns found to have worked in a committed manner by the end of the stipulated time period will be granted certificates for their efforts signed by Professor Shamnad Basheer, on behalf of the IDIA Initiative.


For further details, feel free to email  at : jwaladthapa@gmail.com, jsphrenthlei@yahoo.co.in or call at 9593981263, 9007643825,

Second IDIA –National Aptitude Test (I-NAT) on 6th November, 2011

With the successful performance of the first ever National Aptitude Test by IDIA (I-NAT) through which IDIA was able to successfully place 14 students from low income background in various National Law Universities, IDIA is all set to conduct the second National Aptitude Test (I-NAT) on November 6, 2011 at 14 cities across the country, for under-privileged and financially weak students interested in appearing in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2012 and 2013.

Last April, IDIA had chosen 50 students, based on their performance in the first I-NAT, for free CLAT coaching and training by IMS, a pioneer coaching institute for CLAT. Out of these 50 students, 11 were able to make it to various NLUs with one student making it to NLSIU, Bangalore with an All India Rank of 45 in the General category. Karthika Annamalai, another IDIA scholar and a Quarry worker's daughter has made it to NLIU, Bhopal.

Every year, Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA) as part of its vision of bringing diversity in law colleges, plans on choosing a few deserving, under privileged and financially weak students, interested in making a career in Law, for free training and coaching for CLAT.

The IDIA National Aptitude Test is expected to be more widespread and bigger this time, with around 19 centres across the country and estimated registrations of more than 1500 students. The cities where the test would be conducted are

New Delhi

Kolkata

Bhopal

Lucknow

Bangalore

Patna

Mumbai

Chennai

Hyderabad

Ranchi

Guwahati

Gandhinagar

Jodhpur

Cochin

The test will be on 6^th November 2011 from 10 am to 11 am ( 60 Minutes) and the questions will be related to basic General Knowledge, Logic and basic English.

All students whose combined income of parents is less than Rs. 40,000 a month are eligible to apply.

Interested students may apply for registration here: idianat2011@gmail.com or call any of the following IDIA volunteers:

Bharat Itagi : +919845442956

Anukanksha Kalkeri: +919845442924

Pranusha Kulkarni: +919164197317

All candidates will be required to send scanned copy of their parent’s income certificate to the above email ID for confirmation of their registration

The seats are very limited and is on a first come first serve basis. Everyone is requested to immediately make the registrations. All selected INAT Scholars will be given completely free coaching by IMS and there will not be any payment for the same.

Also, Please spread the word around and aware as many students you can who fit the category and eligibility for I NAT.