The students of Gyalpozhing College of Information and Technology will soon develop a Legal Aid Data Management System that will make it easier for persons with disabilities and those living below the poverty line to access free legal services. This innovative idea won a three-day hackathon held recently at the college. This system will make it easier to get a lawyer without the need for manual work.
The idea was created by the Zero Pixel team, led by a final year student of the Gyalpozhing College of Information Technology, that won the hackathon. They were awarded USD 5,000, which is over Nu 419,000 to develop the system by the end of this year.
Dorji Thogmey, hackathon winner said “Once the prototype is live, people will be able to apply for legal aid online. So you do not have to go to the office itself, but you can simply process the application through a phone. And also for the Legal Aid Center itself, they will be able to have all of their data, all of their files within one system, and they will not have to depend on physical documents as well as other software like Excel sheet to maintain their data.”
According to officials, the system will improve access to justice by addressing challenges posed by manual case management such as delays, data loss, and limited accessibility, especially for low-income individuals.
Tshering Pem, Deputy Chief Legal Officer, Legal Aid Center said “The main objective of organising the hackathon is to provide quick services to clients and enhance data security. This system is important since we can provide services to the vulnerable population such as people with disabilities and to ensure that it is user-friendly.”
Over the three-day event, more than ten student groups from Gyalpozhing College of Information and Technology developed various prototypes for legal aid data system.
Despite the limited time to develop their prototypes, participants have gained valuable lessons through the hackathon.
Ugyen Choden, a student said “One of the challenges that I and my team faced, was to adapt to a new technology requirement. We were not really familiar with it. However, we took upon this challenge to adapt to a new framework at the same time come with the innovative solution within a tight deadline. So, I and my team that consists of all girls could hone the skill of adaptability, problem solving and decision making.”
Purna Bahadur Rana, another student said “While coming up with the prototype, one of the major challenges that we faced was the time constraint. We had many new innovative ideas and solution and selecting the best one to come up for the prototype was really challenging. However, prompt support from mentors and organisers was really helpful.”
Meanwhile, before the Legal Aid Data Management System’s official launch, they will educate people on how to use it and ensure there are no flaws in the system.
Deki Lhazom
Edited by Sonam Pem
