LEGAL LITERACY CAMP ON DEMAND JUSTICE SERVICES

On 30th November 2022, Department of Business Law of Saveetha School of Law, SIMATS organised a legal awareness camp in Sembarambakkam higher secondary school in Sembarambakkam village with regard to UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN 2.0, the faculty who conducted the programme is Mrs. S. P. Vidyassri, Assistant Professor & Head of business law department, along with the help and support provided by Rudrakumar sir, the Vice President of the village panchayat and Ravichandran sir, Headmaster of the school. 

Seven teams took different topics to educate the students with respect to the laws that are required as a common knowledge by the civilians. A total of   students participated in the event, they went to different classes and educated the students of the school on their topic.

The different topics were: 

Team 1: Topic: Your right to vote

Game with interaction. The team taught the students various aspects of elections, giving a gist of authorities involved in conducting an election and who was the supreme authority. An awareness was created on how people’s right to vote can be misused and infringed by the government and other people, especially by duplicating of votes. The team lastly spoke about the importance of each and every vote in an election and how it could help them by choosing their representative wisely based on their problems and the leader who they think fit to address their issues.

The students were made to play a game which demonstrated a small election including commonly committed malpractices. They were made to self raise the problems and have a discussion on it making the session an interactive one. The activity ended with them being taught the importance of voting both as a duty and right.  

Team 2: Topic: Awareness about Footboarding in public transport.

Interaction and discussion based on personal experiences.

It was an interaction session with the students based on their life experiences and their answers to the questions asked.

Rewards were given to the best answers on the topic, creating awareness on footboard. The students were attentive and enjoyed sharing their personal experiences on their point of view of what footboarding on buses, trains, trucks etc.. were about.

 They found it easier and more comfortable to share their life incidents and also listened to what we were instructing them on the consequences they had to face if they tried footboarding. They gained some new knowledge about the risks and the cruel impacts that they would face because of it. The students were really cooperative and overall it was a knowledgeable and good experience.  

Team 3: Topic: Youngsters in politics.

Interactive discussion on the role and need of youngsters in politics.

It was an interesting discussion on the roles and needs of youngsters in politics. The discussing session was made more interesting as the students shared a lot of their ideas on what they think about politics and what was the impression that was made in their inner selves on about what politics was due to the prevailing political standards. They were more involved in this topic as we interacted with class 9 students who were in an ideal age to learn about politics, and it made them listen to us and seek some knowledge. We were able to gather various ideas and opinions of the students about the prevailing politics in India and we had a interactive session where we had a fun talks, quiz and chats about the do’s and don’ts of a politician in Society and Finally we made our session better with enlightening and educating the students about  the need of the political leaders in the society and the need of why youngsters should take out politics and based on the answers delivered for the questions that we asked during the session the most interactive students were awarded with some compliments . 

Team 4: Topic: Mental health awareness for students

Medium of interaction and counselling. The team went to the students of class 10th who were highly excited to interact with them, although they were shy and quiet during the first introduction as the group progressed with their topic they became more comfortable.

 The team spoke about why mental health is the most important prospect for a person and had a group discussion as to how to face everyday problems which might affect our mental health and how to handle them by ourselves.

They made a role play on one of the most recent case where a student kills herself because of the mental torture as a result of pressure from the school authorities to convert religions. They taught the students how she could have handled that situation in a different way and that self-harm and suicide was never a solution.

 The students interacted with keen interest and curiosity to learn new things and participated in all the activities conducted with interest.  

Team 5: Topic: Handling a crime scene and filing an FIR

Through interactive screenplay of different reactions commonly given by civilians to a crime and how to properly react if they find themselves in such a situation.

The team gave basic information on the crimes being played, theft and murder, and how they need to calmly handle a situation while also being quick to give a response.

Questions were asked on how the students would react to these situations and different approaches said by the students were corrected.

The team displayed scenes of theft and murder and how a responsible citizen should react to it. They also displayed what not to do in case they witness such a situation. Two situations, theft and murder, were played out and information about the same was spoken.

The team also taught the students on how to file and FIR to the police and had an interactive discussion about common aspects of law that should be known to citizens.  

Team 6: Topic: Underage Driving rules and fines.

Interrogating case-study.

Our awareness was based on India's laws regarding underage driving rules and fines. We used an interrogating-case study method in which we put the students in the roles of the defendant and the plaintiff and asked them questions about what they would do in various scenarios. We also provided guidance on what they should and shouldn't do. Most of the students interacted with us in a really indulging manner. We also gave the students an explanation of the Indian Motor Vehicle Act's restrictions, penalties, and the value of licences.This made them gain certain level of legal knowledge and make them indulge in looking on an incident in the legal point of view  by teaching them few of the traffic laws and rules which would help them in the future.We had chances to clear their doubts . We are happy that it was an transparent interaction with the involvement of the students.We also learnt that students found it enthusiastic and enjoyable to term themselves as plaintiff and respondents which let them encounter their doubts and questions more in a eagerness to know what these laws and acts were about and took very less time to gel with us . 

Team 7: Right to education and proper schooling

Skit on the topic was performed by the team.

The team gave the students a basic introduction on fundamental rights and explained the right to education in detail. The importance of this fundamental right was spoken in an extensive and interactive manner, and how it affected society on a large scale. They performed a Skit on “Right to education and proper schooling”. The roleplay showed how education can help in changing a person's life for the better. They had a session where the students' opinion on the skit was asked, and then had a discussion, giving solutions to the questions that the students came up with about the topic. They spoke about how students can get scholarships and pursue higher education. This helped the students in exploring different careers and opportunities as they were keen and curious about the same. 

Therefore the cooperation of the students as well as the teachers who spent their time letting us work on our presentations without any hesitation was very much appreciated. And we would like to thank the headmaster , head of the panchayat and the class teachers once again for their efforts in making us feel free to adapt to their environment by their kind responses . The main objective of  Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 to educate children about the legal literacy was fortuitously made ., as this awareness  was an initiative point for the students on seeking new ideologies on about what the laws and rules are for ., which would make them think more judicious and lay on the flawless side as the upcoming citizens.