The Legislature Secretariat's own study centre in the Assembly Building, and the parliamentary courses it teaches

Background

With the capital hosting a conference of Public Accounts Committee chairpersons this week, the Legislature's own teaching arm is worth knowing.
The Kerala Legislature Secretariat runs the Kerala Legislative Assembly Media and Parliamentary Study Centre, shortened to K-LAMPS, from the Assembly Building in the Legislature Complex, Vikas Bhavan P.O., Thiruvananthapuram.
It grew out of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training, which the Secretariat set up in 2011.
The centre states its mission as fostering democracy by strengthening the institution of the Legislature.
It offers a Post Graduate Diploma in Parliamentary Studies and a Certificate Course in Parliamentary Practice and Procedure.
The certificate course runs six months by distance education, with printed self learning material, assignments, workshops and five or six days of contact classes.
A pass in Higher Secondary or an equivalent qualification is enough, there is no age limit, seats are ordinarily capped at five hundred a session and a batch needs at least ten students.
Contact classes and examinations are ordinarily held at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode, and the medium is English and Malayalam.