Okaz newspaper

OUR repeated calls for teaching law as a subject in the school curriculum did not go in vain. The Ministry of Education announced recently the introduction of law as a subject in high schools as of next year.

Law is considered more important than mathematics formulas and algorithms, which many our students hate and as a result put an early end to their education and future. A man in his 50s, who is a victim of math education and work in a very low job, asks even today how did he benefit from finding the value of X and Y?

Law will be taught at the high school level. We should not ignore teaching the principles of law as the solid foundation on which knowledge is based. Students should learn the definition of law, the stages in which it was issued, the difference between jus cogens and complementary rules as well as public and private law. We should not focus a lot on explaining the principles at the expense of providing valuable practical information that is needed by our youth in all stages of their life.

The outcome of legal education should be specific and clear, which is to protect our youth from falling victims because of the ignorance of law, especially in financial, criminal and political matters. We need to actuate knowledge to take advantage of investment opportunities.

In the second semester of the first year in high school, students should learn the traffic rules and regulations, IT criminal justice system and anti-narcotic laws. The learning process should be practical and not theoretical so information will be implanted deep in their minds. If time for teaching law is little and limited, we should reduce math hours by cutting down the lessons and allocate them to law classes instead. The most important thing is to gradually teach law in all three high school years.

The main purpose of exposing our youth to the principles of law and the most important law articles that is connected to the daily lives of people is to make the youth knowledgeable about the law of the land. Families will be reassured that when their sons leave university, they are aware of the law and do not fall victims to any scam.

The same way the fatwa issuance is limited to senior members of the Ulema Council, we need a similar decision issued to limit giving legal advice and consultancy to lawyers with license and, preferably, experienced lawyers. We do not want to see people who practice various professions today wearing the lawyer’s gown tomorrow because they are not earning much money from their original jobs. Such people will take advantage of their basic knowledge of law and philosophy.