IDIA Sensitisation Program at Vimala Hridaya Girls HSS, Kollam

The Kollam chapter of the IDIA was taken forward with sensitization programme being held at Vimala Hridaya Girls HSS, Kollam on 31-7-2010. State Co-ordinator of IDIA, Raghul Sudheesh along with an IDIA team consisting of Asitha, Bijitha, Vishnu, Navaneet and Ananthu conducted the sensitization program.

The program started at about 10:00 in the morning. The 12^th standard batch of the Humanities and Commerce stream took part in the program. Mr. Raghul Sudheesh and Miss. Asitha spearheaded the interactive session with the students. The lack of popularity of law as a career was manifest from the response of the students. The conventional belief that profession of law meant court and court practice seemed to be rooted in the minds of most present.  The volunteers therefore had to convince the student about the diverse opportunities available to a law graduate.         

As the session moved on students began to evince greater interest in the topic and a fruitful interactive session followed. Soon umpteen questions were put forth by them pertaining to the scope of law, the term of the course, the scope of law as a career etc.  The session underlined the need for senitisation from ground zero as the ignorance about law as a career option was blatantly manifest. After the session the number of law aspirants who were just two at the initial stage increased to 12.The session lasted for about two hours and concluded at about 12:00.

Report prepared by Ananthu B and Murali Krishnan

IDIA Sensitisation Program at Sree Narayana HSS, Cochin

IDIA Cochin Chapter initiated its activities in Ernakulam on 31-7-2010. The much awaited sensitization session of IDIA took place at Sree Narayana Higher Secondary School, Ayyappankavu between 1.30 PM and 2.15 PM. The team which conducted the session consisted of Aiswarya, Rinie, Parvathi, Boaz, Reshma and Anupama. The fourty five minute long session was held for two classes, one consisting of students belonging to humanities stream and the other of commerce stream.

We started off by asking how many of them were interested in taking up law as their career.  To our disappointment, only 3 to 4 hands went up and as usual, they too were ignorant about law schools and the varied career prospects of law. Hence we had to start from the scratch. We began by enlightening them about the various prospects of law.  Then we explained about law schools, law colleges and other law institutes and their differences. We also elucidated the difficulties for gaining an entry into National Law Schools. Then we dwelt upon the purpose of IDIA and how IDIA could make legal education accessible to meritorious candidates.

Soon the session became more interactive and informal as the students put forward many doubts. At the end of the session, we put forth the same question that we had asked them in the beginning i.e. how many were actually interested in taking up law. To our surprise and joy, there was a considerable increase in the number of hands that had gone up. Moreover, 10 out of 40 commerce students and 30 out of the 50 humanities students were keen on taking the aptitude test. 

Report prepared by Anupama S. and Murali Krishnan

IDIA Sensitisation Program @Raghudevpur Shadharoner Vidyalaya For Girls, Howrah

The trip made to the school Raghudevpur Shadharoner Vidyalaya for girls Howrah, West Bengal proved to be quite an educating experience for the IDIA team from NUJS. The IDIA team consisting of NUJS students Arnab (5th yr), Diptoshree(4th yr), Ramanuj(4th yr), Radhika(4th yr), Adreeka (2nd yr), Aditi(1st yr) accompanied by Mr. Shameek Sen, faculty at NUJS, conducted this sensitization program.

The students in the school primarily hailed from lower income group. During the entire course of the session, the school authorities were extremely helpful and accommodating. The inputs received from the teacher seconded the obvious apprehension of the team about the lack of awareness about law as a career amongst students in small towns, rural areas and other non-affluent backgrounds.

The students who participated in the session were from XIth and XIIth standard. The team realized from the beginning of the session that the school students had little idea about law as a career. Though they had heard of the 3 year course but they did not have any idea about the 5 year integrated course a National Law University offers.

The team started the session with the question, whether any of them had considered the legal profession as a career option and, literally, none seemed interested. We explained them about what lawyers do and the diverse options one has after doing law. They were told about the various universities where one can pursue law and the advantage of pursuing it at one of the ten National Law schools in terms of better quality of education, infrastructure and recruitment.

The students were informed about the high pay packages given to students from law schools and campus placement. The presenters- Ramanuj and Diptoshree, recounted their personal experiences of choosing law over other professional streams. After the presentation it appeared to them a good idea as it posed law as a viable career option as opposed to last resort. It was noticed during the course of the session that the most important consideration for these students seemed to be social justice as well as economic stability for themselves.

The students hailed from impoverished background. One of their major concerns was regarding the financial assistance they may be provided. Most of them lacked the means for pursuing further education leave alone higher education. Inspite of all the possible financial hindrances that may arise in future, some were ambitious. But the irony is, though they aimed to study medical or engineering (which are also expensive), no one mentioned law. This clearly indicated towards lack of awareness as a primary reason behind the absence of students from economically poor backgrounds in the National Law Universities.

To assess the student’s aptitude for law, an aptitude test was taken which was largely based on Logical Reasoning, General Knowledge, English, Legal Reasoning and Mathematics. The question paper was deliberately drafted in vernacular and only the GK section was in English. The aim of the aptitude test was to identify those students with the aptitude required for law and the ability needed to crack the Common Law Admission Test. They will be provided free and intensive training for CLAT. Then a list of top scorers was prepared and the students were selected on the basis of the aptitude test’s result, their financial background and general academic performance.

The team was quite heartened to see that they were successful in encouraging even those students who did not fare well in the test but still were inclined to consider law as a career option.

Report on the IDIA Kollam Sensitization Program

The Kollam chapter of IDIA commenced on 29-7-2010 at Kollam Government Model Boys HSS. A team consisting of Rahul, Vineetha, Deepa, ,Tintu, Jiju and Mahesh conducted the  sensitization program  and the aptitude test with the students of the humanities stream.  Many of the students belonged to economically weak background and were unaware about the career prospects of Law. Only one student initially evinced interest in pursuing law as a career.

However, as the session commenced, students displayed eagerness to know about law and the diverse opportunities in store for law graduates.  Soon doubts began to pour in and we were overwhelmed by the response.  Queries were mostly with respect to the differences between an ordinary law degree and B.A,LL.B.(Hons.), the prospects of a National Law School graduate etc.  The team members were soon involved in clearing umpteen doubts raised by students.        

After this fruitful interactive session, the aptitude test was conducted. Subsequently, we invited the principal of the school Mrs. Mathuri to wind up the session. By then the number of students interested in pursuing law had gone up to 7. Buoyed by the overwhelming response, the principal requested us to conduct sessions for students of science and commerce stream also. Faustin, the class leader proposed the vote of thanks and the program came to an end at around 12.15.

   

Inauguration of IDIA Kerala Chapter by Hon’ble Justice D. Sreedevi

The Kerala chapter of IDIA kicked off at St .Mary’s H.S.S, Pattom, Trivandrum on July 17, 2010. The function was inaugurated by Hon’ble Justice D. Sreedevi, the former High Court Judge and the present Chairperson of Kerala Womens Commission. The function was attended by the 11^th and 12^th std. students of the Humanities stream of St. Mary’s school besides IDIA volunteers from Trivandrum and Kochi. Father George Mathew Karoor, Principal, St. Mary’s school also graced the occasion with his presence. Aswathy Kusumam, volunteer, IDIA welcomed the gathering. Mr. Raghul Sudheesh, State Co-ordinator, IDIA delivered the presidential address.

This was followed by an inspiring speech by Hon’ble Justice D. Sreedevi. Beginning with the maxim “Ignorance of law is not an excuse”, Justice D. Sreedevi went on to give a very informative speech on the importance of law in our society. She proceeded to trace her own career as an example and how her dislike for law gradually disappeared and ultimately evolved into her passion with her stay in the profession. She elucidated upon the need for awareness and knowledge of law not only among the legal fraternity but also among the laymen so as to ensure that the objects set out in the Constitution and other mighty documents like UN Declaration on Human Rights are accomplished. 

She also dwelt upon the prospects of law as a career and the bright future which a rapidly developing economy like India held for law graduates. Her enlightening speech ensured that the students present got a clear picture about scope of law as a profession. It was an eye opener for many students who were unaware about law as a career and helped remove common misconceptions.  

Father George Mathew Karoor praised the initiative and wished IDIA all success. Ms. Vineetha Vinayan, Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-ordinator, IDIA, proposed the vote of thanks. The inaugural ceremony was followed by an interactive session with the students. It was headed by Mr. Raghul Sudheesh, the State Co-ordinator of IDIA. The students were initially hesitant to open up and needed a bit of persuasion. Soon doubts began to pour in. The enthusiasm of the students was seconded by each and every person in the hall and every query was accompanied with encouraging applause. From the concept of National Law Schools to the varied avenues which a law graduate could pursue, students were keen on getting all their doubts clarified. However, the deeply ingrained notion that law as a career meant the career of a practicing lawyer with struggle during initial years still persisted among many. The ignorance about law was evident when a student hailing from Chennai stated that “I was in Chennai for many years and have never heard about a law college in Chennai.” He was at dark about the existence of colleges like School of Excellence in Law.

The fact that majority of the students were unaware about the prospects of a noble profession like law testified the need for a mass movement like IDIA to ensure that the benefits of law as a profession percolates down to the lower strata of the society so that they in turn can contribute to the growth of the masses they represent. 

Report prepared by Murali Krishnan and Saira George. 

IDIA Sensitisation Session at St. Thomas HSS, Thiruvanthapuram

A sensitisation session was conducted by members of the IDIA Thiruvanthapuram chapter headed by their regional coordinator Ms.Vineetha Vinayan at St. Thomas Higher Secondary School for the students Std.11 & 12 of the commerce batch. The session started at 1.00 PM, a welcome to the IDIA team was given by Mrs. Geetha.K, School Administrator. An insight about IDIA project was given by Pinkey Sara Georgey.

The interactive session was handled by Maneka Nair and Manoranjan. Most of the students were eager to know if they could take the course with any other degree and also to how to crack CLAT. The students had a view that the only option that you have after taking law was litigation. The questions mostly asked were about the 5 year and 3 year course. They wanted to know if they could opt law with any other degree and about the number of law colleges in Kerala.

Some students queried if the entrance was common for all law institutions in India, how many entrance exams were there, the minimum qualification required to attend the entrance, etc. After the session some students who did not raise questions during this group session approached our volunteers individually and enquired about the courses.

We thank the school authorities who were immensely supportive towards our intiative. The session ended by 2.00pm.

IDIA Logo Designing Competition (Deadline extended to August 10)

It is a huge idea

And we need someone to capture it all in a neat logo.

The IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education) is a project which has taken off. We are receiving immense help and support from various National Law Schools, lawyers, law firms, media and other stakeholders.

Now we are looking for a logo for IDIA; something which tells the 10,000 words of our concept note in a few strokes of pen.

IDIA’s Logo Designing Competition invites entries from all the creative individuals out there. Entries by law students and lawyers are especially welcome.

There are no eligibility conditions and anyone can send his/her entry. The winner whose logo gets selected will be given Rupees 5000/- as a prize. The copyrights of the logo will be transferred to IDIA.

The last date for submission is August 10, 2010. We’ll accept logos in any kind of format provided the logo is clear and legible.

You can email your entries to Prof. Shamnad Basheer at shamnad@gmail.com

Or post it to this address:

Shamnad Basheer, Ministry of HRD Professor in IP Law

West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WB NUJS)

NUJS Bhavan, 12 LB BLOCK, Salt Lake City, Sector III

Kolkata ‐ 700098, India.

Please do send in the following details along with your entry:

Name:

Address:

Email ID:

Name of the school /college/ place of work:

(Picture from here).