Legal Counseling on Public Policy Reform and the Strengthening of Legal Culture among Senior High School Students

Abstract

Public policy reform and the strengthening of legal culture are essential to realizing the ideals of a rule-of-law state as mandated by UUD NRI 1945. However, the low level of students’ understanding of public policy and law indicates a participatory capacity gap and a weak legal awareness among young people. This issue is increasingly relevant due to the persistence of various legal and disciplinary violations among students, such as bullying, student brawls, violations of school rules, and limited meaningful participation in public policy processes. This community service activity aims to improve students’ literacy on public policy reform, instill legal values and legal culture, develop meaningful participation, and encourage law-abiding behavior in school and community life. The method used was participatory legal counseling conducted at SMK Advent Batam through several stages, including observation, coordination, pre-test, material presentation, interactive discussion, post-test, and evaluation. The findings show a significant improvement in students’ understanding, particularly in defining public policy reform, identifying the stages of the policy cycle, explaining the levels of legal culture, and describing the reciprocal relationship between participatory public policy and a strong legal culture. This study is significant as it offers a contextual, inclusive, and applicable legal education model for secondary school students in developing a legally aware, critical, and participatory young generation.