The Department of Applied Legal Studies has welcomed the second intake of community-based paralegals to the block-release version of the pioneering Bachelor of Paralegal Studies programme.
The six students recently received a warm welcome at the Bellville campus, where they participated in a two-day orientation programme.
Dr Noleen Leach, acting head of the department, said the first group of community-based paralegals (CBPs) were admitted last year.
She said preliminary indicators show a mutual knowledge exchange between the academy and the workplace, which is bound to enrich the programme and equip the CBPs with advanced knowledge, skills, and competencies.
“Most CBPs on the programme have done well to date.”
The Community-Based Paralegal project was made possible with funding from the C.S. Mott Foundation and the South Africa Open Society Foundation.
“The department has committed itself to building capacity among the community-based paralegals who have rendered paralegal services in community advice offices for decades. These students are the advanced guards and carry the hopes of a sector that has been left behind in the wake of the transformation of the administration of justice. They know that an entire sector's hopes rest on their shoulders. Their success is the success of the CBP sector.”
Student Jannie Hendricks, who hails from Moorreesburg, said he joined the programme as “an activist at heart”.
“We run an advice office, and I felt that having a proper qualification would do so much for the office and me.”
Written by Ilse Fredericks
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