Bangalore: The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) has recently announced the introduction of a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Rights Law (PGDCRL), the first of its kind in the country.

Though, a postgraduate diploma course in child rights is already being offered by Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University, there is no other university in India which offers courses specifically on laws related to child rights, making the one by NLSIU the first of its kind.

The curriculum of the course has been designed by the Centre for Child and the Law (CCL), a specialized research centre at the university working in the field of child rights for over 12 years now.

The course is of one year duration and will be offered through the distance education mode. A graduate from any recognized university or with similar qualifications and with a minimum of 15 years of education is eligible for this course.

Jayagovind, Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU, has hoped that people involved in implementing various laws related to children, such as the Juvenile Justice Act, and activists working on child rights issues will find this course particularly useful.

Neetu Sharma, coordinator of the course, said, "A survey was conducted by CCL prior to launching the course, which found that there was a dearth of trained practitioners in child rights laws, though there are many organizations involved in child rights issues".

Ms. Sharma further said, "The resource requirements in the field of child rights are bound to increase substantially with the Planning Commission and Ministry of Women and Children proposing an Integrated Child Protection Scheme in the Eleventh Five Year Plan".

"This requires approximately 20 to 25 professionals trained in child rights at each district. Since there is no other educational institution that caters to this human resource requirement, with a specific focus on Child Rights Law in India, this distance education programme will cater to this human resource requirement," she added.

The course will have four papers - The Child, Family and the State in India: Realities and Issues; Child Rights, Policy and Law: International and National Framework; Key Legislation relating to Children in India; and Working with Children from a Rights based Perspective. It will also have a research project.

The last date for applying for the course, with late fees, is December 15, 2008. The first contact programme will be held in January, 2009. Three contact classes will be held throughout the year.