E. M. MANOJ
KALPETTA: The Wayanad District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) in association with the Department of Law, Central University of Kerala, and Tribal Development Department has begun the ‘Niyama Gothram’ project for the children of Kattunayakkan community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
The project envisages training the tribal students for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). As many as 26 Plus Two girls from Nallurnadu, Noolpuzha and Kaniyambetta Model Residential schools (MRS) for tribal children have been selected for the programme, which is being conducted at the MRS Kaniyambetta in Wayanad. The students have been selected by the DLSA after conducting an orientation programme a few months ago.
“We have started the residential training programme by the first week of April after providing a two-month online training programme,” K. I. Jayasankar, Dean of School of Legal Studies, Thiruvalla campus, Kerala Central University told The Hindu.
“As many as five tribal students under the programme in Wayanad had cracked the CLAT last year and this success inspired us to launch the project in Palakkad for the Irula community, another PVTG, this year,” Dr. Jayasankar added. Around 29 tribal children from Attappady and Malampuzha MRSs are also being trained under a similar programme with the support of the DLSA in Palakkad.
The expenses for the residential programme, to conclude on June 19, would be provided by the Scheduled Tribal Development Department.
Apart from Dr. Jayasankar, Vishruth Raveendran, a research scholar, Assistant Professors Dr. J. Gireesh Kumar from the same Thiruvalla campus, Dr. Lawwellman from Kozhikode Government Law College, Dr. Kavitha Chalakkal from Inter University Centre for IPR Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, and eight LLM students from the Central University are handling the classes for free. Jasmin Giri and Paul Giri, two advocates practicing in the Supreme Court, are also assisting the online classes.
