Remarkable Concluding Ceremony of Academy’s Flagship Pre-Service Training Programme - Tagged as the foundation course of raising up a new generation of judges

The KP Judicial Academy concluded its 3 months long Pre-Service Training of Civil Judges/Judicial Magistrates/Alaqa Qazi, 2018 (PST-CJM, 2018) today (July 6, 2018). An impressive ceremony was held. Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who is also the Chairman of the Academy’s Board of Governors, was the chief guest on the occasion. A batch of 41 newly recruited civil judges/judicial magistrates/alaqa qazis received certificates of successful completion of their pre-service training. The youngest lot of judicial officers have been recruited after qualifying a competitive examination conducted by the KP Public Service Commission.

The ceremony commenced with the recitation from the Holy Qur‘an by Dr. Qazi Attaullah, Director, Research & Publications. Syed Anees Badshah Bukhari, Dean of Faculty, welcomed the guests and presented an overview of the PST. Dr. Khurshid Iqbal, the Director General, acknowledged the contributions of all staff of the Academy for their day and night hard work to make the PST a remarkable success. Ms. Meena Qaisar and Mr. Hamaish Khan, both class representatives from men and women trainees expressed views about the training. They informed their high ups about the knowledge and skills they were able to learn. The chief guest, Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth addressed the trainees.  He advised the trainees to fully utilize the knowledge and skills they have learnt at the training. He further advised the newly recruited judges to take due care of their integrity and dedicate all their energies to effective justice service delivery to the public so they should be able to pay back for their capacity building programme at the Academy. The Chief Justice was accompanied by other judges of the Peshawar High Court. They were: Justice Ikramullah Khan, Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Justice Ejaz Anwar, Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Shakeel Ahmad.

About the training programme

It was the longest duration training course the Academy has conducted so far. The training programme was approved by the Academic Committee, the Chairman of the Board followed by the Board itself.  The 3 months duration was a big, rather historical, leap forward in the direction of putting the training regime on the way towards rising up a new generation of judges. The PST was designed with a holistic approach and great academic vigour. The theoretical framework used was the established troika of knowledge, skills and attitude/aptitude (KSA). The theoretical aspects were included with a view to sharpen the concepts of the trainees. The main thrust of the course was on skills and attitude/aptitude. The tools used for skills and attitude were demonstrations and practical exercises. A demonstration required a trainer to perform a specific judicial business him/herself. A practical exercise then involved the trainees to perform it themselves with the support of the trainer. 

Due consideration was paid to quality of teaching. To this end, before the commencement of the training a training of the trainer (ToT) was conducted for 12 Judicial Officers. While all of trained trainers were invited to deliver lecture, a large number of Judicial Officers from the field courts were also engaged in the teaching. In order to provide opportunity to all Judicial Officers interested in delivering lectures, the Academy invited all judges of the District Judiciary to express their interest for teaching in the Academy. Those who responded to the call were given the opportunity. The net thrown was widened by inviting others as well. Thus, the Academy was able to locate potential trainers for future.

A range of teaching modes and methods were used. They include class room lectures, demonstrations, practical exercises, court attachments, field visits, extension lectures and individual counselling. To support our class room teaching, the Academy helped the trainees write assignments, initially in the form of weekly review and then by writing judgments and orders in actual cases the records of which were obtained from other districts. Various academic activities were conducted in the evening in the hostel, mostly under the direct academic supervision of a faculty member. Field visits, particularly, court attachment in Peshawar District Courts, visit to Police Stations in Peshawar and land settlement proceedings in district Nowshera, were arranged. A three-day excursion was also arranged to Islamabad, Muree and Nathiagali that included a call on the caretaker Prime Minister, Justice (R) Nasir-ul-Mulk, the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Shari‘ah Academy of the International Islamic University, Islamabad.  For extension lectures topics of great significance were selected. Understanding the ideology of Pakistan was one of the topics. The idea was to apprise the trainees about the role and importance of Islamic ideology of Pakistan and the current challenges to it. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Dr. Anis Ahmad, the Vice-Chancellor of the Riphah International University, Islamabad. Understanding current debates in contemporary jurisprudence was another topic of an extension lecture. The lecture aimed at sensitizing the trainees to the importance of current debates in the realm of legal theory. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Munir, DG, Shariah Academy and Vice-President of the International Islamic University, Islamabad, delivered the lecture.

The training was a graded one. The assessment was conducted as per the modes we have proposed in our concept note. With a view to inculcate motivation, encourage competition and award the best ones, three top position holders in the overall assessment process were conferred with shields:  the Chairman Award was grabbed by Mr. Khalil Khan who won the first position; the DG Award went to Ms. Sidra Aslam being the second position holder; and the Dean Award was given to Mr. Salman Reyat Khan Khattak who stood third in the assessment process.The PST being the first of its kind and extraordinary till date, special certificates duly framed coupled with a bunch of key helpful resource books—a latest published translation of the Holy Qur‘an and Adabl-ul-Qazi—were presented to the trainees.

The PST was concluded with much fanfare as it laid the foundation of a new training regime that truly reflect the spirit of rising up a new generation of judge. It is hope in future the Academy will conduct similar PST with increased duration and enhanced academic strength. Indeed, it must go without saying that the District Judiciary, as the backbone of the judicial system, must be academically competent, professionally sound and ethically matchless.

 

News by Dr. Khurshid Iqbal,

Director General,

KP Judicial Academy

 

 

The video clips of the ceremony

 

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