Free Legal Awareness Session was conducted at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kalimpong on 02.05.2023

06-05-2023

The team comprised of:
1. Mr. Akash Sardar (Assistant Professor of Law)
2. Mr. Ishaan Chettri (Student Convenor)
3. Mr. Rohit Tamang (Student Member)

The programme started at 10:30 am in a classroom composed of students from classes 9, 10 and 12. Mr. Akash Sardar, introduced the students to the concept of legal awareness and how it is necessary to know their rights in order to understand that they have been violated.

The first speaker, Mr. Ishaan Chettri dealt with the topic of "Cyber Crimes". He gave an overview of the various kinds of cyber crimes, such as phishing, spoofing, pornography through super-imposition. He also talked about the ways in which social media can be used to target the students as victims of several cyber crimes, including cyber trafficking. He concluded by informing the measures that the students can take to protect their data and identities along with information about the competent authorities who have been allocated to deal with such crimes.

The second speaker, Mr. Rohit Tamang took up the topic of "Right to Know". He spoke about how it is important for the students to exercise their right to seek information from public as well as private authorities if such information is relevant to them. He emphasized on the various ways it could be beneficial for them, giving an example of filing a Right to Information petition to get their board papers rechecked if they are dissatisfied with the marks. He educated the students on how to file an RTI along with the format and the prescribed fees.

Finally Mr. Akash Sardar, briefly took up the topic of "Mental Health of Students with respect to Online Education", where he discussed how although online educational platforms give access to the comfort of home while attending classes, it does not substitute the benefits of traditional form of education including  interaction with their peers.

The students of the school were quite excited to learn more on the topics that had been discussed and asked many questions regarding the topics as well as regarding law as a career. Overall it was quite a successful session.