Accra, July 9, GNA - The Second Chief Justice Mentoring Programme to educate the youth on the Ghana Judicial System was held on Thursday in Accra.

The programme was initiated by Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood after some students from Wesley Girls paid a courtesy call on her to congratulate her on her appointment.

The programme is aimed at educating the youth on the judicial system and inspire them to develop interest in the profession through direct interactions with leaders in the profession. Ninety students from six Senior High Schools, namely, Accra Girls, St. Mary's, Labone, Holy Trinity, Christian Methodist and Tema, were selected for this year's programme under the theme; "The Role of the Judiciary in the Governance of Ghana."

Justice Margaret Welbourne, Justice of the High Court, Commercial Division, said schools were chosen from varied socio-economic backgrounds to ensure that students in less financially endowed schools were also given the opportunity to learn the best practices in the legal profession.

That, she said, was to ensure that the programme was geographically representative of the nation.

Justice Welbourne congratulated the Chief Justice for her vision and leadership and called on the youth, especially female students, to pursue legal careers to reflect the gender composition of the profession in the future.

The Chief Justice said their duties as judges did not only end after judging cases but they were also to educate and help people to understand and think carefully before pursuing careers in law. She therefore urged the students to take the opportunity to interact and, if in doubt, approach them for explanations. The students would be taken through a guided tour of the Judicial Service, observe Court Sessions in the Commercial Court, Fast Track Court, Land and Commercial Court, Labour Court and the Human Rights/Commercial Crime Courts.

Last year six schools from the Northern Region participated in the maiden programme.