Education and learning is an on-going process, which begins in the life of a person from the lap of the mother until buried in the grave. The famous scientist Albert Einstein says,”Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”. Commonly there are three main ways of learning, acquiring knowledge, or education – formal, informal and non-formal. Training in the form of workshops and conferences is an informal type of education, by which participants learn not only from the lecturer, but from each other as well, by sharing their experiences, thoughts and knowledge. It is, therefore, the training has become a part of almost every service and employment, so that an employee serves in a better way with the professional skills. The training is also given to the employees to enlighten them about rules, regulations, and their job description, responsibilities, and ethics, so that one may be aware of the nomenclature and functions of the department where he works. Likewise other government service and departments the pre-service and in-service training has become the part of judicial service as well, especially newly inducted Judicial Magistrates cum civil judges being given pre-service training, whereas Senior Civil Judges, Additional Sessions Judges, and District & Sessions Judges are imparted in-service training, either at Provincial judicial Academies or Federal Judicial Academy at Islamabad, and almost every judicial the officer either serving or freshly inducted has undergone such training for his capacity the building, which helps out him in the better dispensation of justice. Honorable High Courts of the country please to allow judicial officers serving under their kind subordination to attain various training programs in Pakistan and abroad as well, which not only increase the professional skills of the judicial officers, but benefits the common litigant as well. Several courses, workshops have been arranged for judicial officers by renowned international organizations in Pakistan or abroad by as well for enhancing their knowledge, awareness about the implementation of various international protocols such as human rights, child rights, women rights, Sharia, anti-terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking, the judicial system of various countries, cyber laws, intellectual properties, etc.
Keeping in view the importance of legal education, the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) in Islamabad was established in 1988, which has played a pivotal role in educating and imparting legal knowledge to judicial officer, prosecutors, lawyers, paralegal staff serving all over the Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan and conducted about 218 training courses so far, where participants hailing from all of the country, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan, meet with each other and share their knowledge, experiences so also cultures, which is a unique opportunity of sharing thoughts and views with each other.
Since no one is sure about the resumption of formal academic activities and reopening of the educational institutions in the near future, therefore an alternate mode of imparting training needs to adopt
The faculty at the FJA also belongs from different parts of the country, for delivering lectures on different subjects and topics, such as the latest legislation, judgment writing, administrative skills, etc. for which intellectuals having specialized knowledge in a subject being invited for sharing their knowledge and experiences, including senior district and sessions judges, lawyers, and officers of civil services. About eight conferences, 19 seminars and 30 workshops on different subjects have been arranged by the FAJ as well.
Likewise, in order to continue the process of learning and imparting legal education for enhancing the professional skills of the stakeholder of the justice sector, judicial academies are also established at the provincial level as well. Needless to add the first judicial academy in the country was established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the Second Law Reforms Commission of 1967-70, whereas the Sindh Judicial Academy was initially established through the resolution passed by the Sindh High Court in 1992, latter on through the Sindh Judicial Academy Act of 1993. Feeling the importance of legal education, the Punjab Judicial Academy was established through the Punjab Judicial Academy Act, 2007. Also, the Balochistan Judicial Academy has been set up through the Balochistan Judicial Academy Act-II of 2010, which are providing pre-service and in-service training to the judicial officers, prosecutors, lawyers, paralegal staff time to time in batches on different subjects of their field and area of work for their capacity building by following the footprints of the federal judicial academy. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, normal activities of the life have been badly affected such as the closure of educational institutions, so also the training courses are halted and the process of capacity building of stakeholders of the justice sector badly disturbed, as it became difficult for learned keynote speakers, intellectuals and participants to join courses at federal or provincial judicial academies, particularly when regular educational institutions are also shutdown.
Since no one is sure about the resumption of formal academic activities and reopening of the educational institutions in the near future, therefore an alternate mode of imparting training needs to adopt. Keeping in view the need of time, the Punjab judicial academy launched an online training programme even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic under ‘webinar’ and initiated imparting training to the judicial officers and paralegal staff online at their respective places of posting in the province of Punjab, by connecting them online. The PJA provides reading material in advance to the participants and announces the schedule of training, so that participants prepare themselves before joining training sessions and take feedback as well. Such an initiative was the need of time, which is not only convenient but time and cost-saving as well that can be carried out by maintaining social distancing and following SOPs issued by the government. However, federal & provincial judicial academies of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have yet to take such steps, which has become unavoidable in the given circumstances when formal education institutions, are going to adopt an online mode of education, particularly when judicial officers are stuck under the lockdown, less judicial work.
Perhaps it is the best time to improve professional skills by reading books, law journals and taking free online courses through www.coursera.org or other websites, yet judicial training has its own utility and importance. Needless to mention here that Google providing free modes of online conferencing i.e Google classroom, Google Meet, and Zoom, by taking advantage of such free services the online training courses can easily be continued even the learned keynote speaker can deliver a lecture from his home or office, viz a viz participants can join the training sessions from his/her office or home so that process of learning may continue for better dispensation of justice.
The writer is serving as a judicial officer in Islamabad