The Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Department of Education and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Inclusion and in collaboration with the Association of Women Judges of Spain (AMJE), has initiated in the Judicial Building of Arrecife the final part of the program Educating in Egalitarian Justice, an innovative project at the national level that has been developed during the current school year.
The Minister of Education, Ascensión Toledo, points out that “this project has high educational value by bringing students closer to the functioning of judicial processes”. Furthermore, she adds that “from the island Institution we will continue to promote initiatives like this one, in which Arenas Internacional School and the IES in Altavista, César Manrique, Las Maretas, San Bartolomé and Playa Honda have participated and which promote the social development of schoolchildren from Lanzarote and La Graciosa”.
Likewise, Toledo highlighted that “this program would not be possible without the collaboration of the Association of Women Judges of Spain, to whom we thank for their involvement, and especially to its president, Gloria Poyato, for her technical contribution and her closeness in the development of all phases of the project”.
The event held this Tuesday, in which Colegio Arenas Internacional and IES San Bartolomé participated, is part of the final block of the program, which will continue on May 11 at 09:00 hours with the participation of students from the finalist groups, who will stage a fictional trial with all parties and professionals involved. For their preparation, the schools have had the technical advice of personnel from the judicial system.
This program is aimed at 1st year Baccalaureate students from secondary education centers in Lanzarote, allowing direct access to the judicial field and facilitating knowledge of the work of different legal operators and the functioning of the Arrecife Court. Likewise, the students have worked on values of equality and non-discrimination through the concept of justice and equality as a fundamental right, addressing different forms of sexist violence and discriminatory situations
The proposal is developed in three phases since last November. The first consisted of a workshop given by professionals from the judicial field, which allowed the students to learn about the functions of the Justice system. Based on this training, each center developed a project with a gender perspective, focused on issues such as sexual violence, sexist violence, or new technologies, aimed at promoting effective equality.
In the second phase, those institutes whose projects were best valued had the opportunity to carry out a guided tour of the Judicial Building of Arrecife to learn about the operation of the facilities, judicial seats, forensic science and prosecution, as well as the functions and competencies of each of the legal operators and, especially, to witness live the development of public trials.