Center for Parliamentary Studies & Training

            Indian parliamentary democracy has no match in the world and democratic values are part and parcel of the life of the common man in India. A democratic parliament will seek to foster a vibrant civil society and to work closely with it in finding solutions to problems facing the country and in improving the quality and relevance of legislation. Informing citizens about the work of Parliament is not just a concern for the fourth estate, but a responsibility of Parliaments themselves. The Open and Distance Learning System with its inherent flexibility and affordability has emerged as an important mode for providing education and awareness to various sections of the society in the present day educational scenario. Being the forerunner in many democratic innovations in India, the Kerala Legislative Assembly successfully conducts a Certificate Course in Parliamentary Practice and Procedure in the distance education stream to propagate the idea, principle, virtues, philosophy and practice of parliamentary democracy.

• The Course shall be an awareness and learning programme designed for those who have no experience with parliamentary procedure and for those who are interested in learning parliamentary practices and procedure.
• It shall be a basic level certificate course on parliamentary practice and procedure.
• It shall be conducted in distance education mode and shall include contact classes along with assignments and workshops.
• The Course shall be managed, regulated, conducted and controlled by the CPST which was established as an integral division of the Secretariat of the Kerala Legislature.

• Minimum qualification for applying for the Course will be a pass in Higher Secondary or equivalent qualification as approved by the Universities in Kerala. (Pre-Degree/Plus Two or equivalent).
• Those who are awaiting results of the qualifying examinations are also eligible to apply.
• Maximum number of seats shall ordinarily be 500 (Five hundred) for an academic session or as decided by the Governing Body for the Course.
• Minimum number of students to commence a batch shall be 10 (Ten).
• There shall be Admission fee and Tuition fee for admission to the Course.
• Admission will generally be open to all eligible candidates and there will be no upper age bar for admission to the course.

• Personal Contact Programmes (PCPs) shall be arranged by the CPST to facilitate interaction between the learners and subject experts, who give due academic counselling to the learners.
• Contact classes shall be arranged by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training at Thiruvananthapuram and kozhikode. Days (5-6 in total) of contact classes will be notified on the official website as well as via SMS to registered mobile numbers of learners.

• Examinations will be conducted at the end of the course and the centre of examination shall ordinarily be at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.
• Application for examination shall be made in the prescribed form along with the prescribed fees.
• Medium of examination shall be English or Malayalam.
• A minimum of 5 marks out of 10 (50%) is necessary for a pass in the internal assessment of each paper. However a total of 40% out of maximum 90 marks is necessary [ marks obtained for internal assessment (maximum 10) PLUS marks obtained for written examination (maximum 80)] for a pass in each paper. A minimum of 20 marks out of 40 (50%) is necessary for a pass in viva voce, which will be considered separately.