Impact of Draft NEP 2019 on Legal Education

Draft National Education Policy 2019 and legal education: A need for integration of Legal education into society.

National education policy draft 2019, is drafted by a committee headed by Kasturirangan to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The preamble of the policy states few principles / factors adopted in the NEP viz, universal education, liberal arts approach in higher education, drawing from Indian heritage and to align to the global sustainable goal.

There are totally 22 Law Universities (AISHE 2017-18), wherein 3.7 Lakh is the student enrolment out of which 2.5 Lakhs are males. With this great number of students studying the laws of our nation, it's important to impart a quality education which focuses on the betterment of society.

Legal education is currently regulated by Bar Council of India. It prescribes minimum standards for legal education. The new education policy seems to impact the legal education.

Moving towards liberal undergraduate program (chapter 9.2) - multidisciplinary approach is well suited to the legal education. Law cannot be studied in isolation. If a law student is aiming to specialise in a specific field, for example intellectual property rights, forensic, they must be allowed to study the other subjects that support their study for example psychology, sociology etc. this will help the students to opt for subjects of their preference and to excel in it.

Lack of faculty autonomy to design curricula(chapter 9.3). A faculty in a law school need to be given the freedom to teach in a way it best suits them. They may either adopt chalk and talk, ICT, case analysis method or so on. One faculty may feel that the subject is best learnt through analysing the cases or having to observe the court proceeding in case of procedural subjects whereas other might feel that text analysis is a must. The freedom to adapt to the teaching method that best suits them should be done.

Transforming affiliating universities (chapter 10.14): The NEP seeks to remove the affiliation system, this is much needed to law colleges as few universities, have a very out dated syllabus and lacks a well drafted syllabus for few subjects. It for obvious reasons that they do not meet the expected outcome from the student community. The draft seeks to transform these universities and colleges to type 1 / type 2/ type 3 institutions. This seeks to enhance the quality legal education.

Curriculum and pedagogy in higher education to move away from rote learning(chapter 12.1.4)  – most of the law subjects are learnt and reproduced in the examination only by rote learning. A new method of teaching must be adapted so as to eliminate the system of rote learning. Students in their initial years of law schools are to be taught in a way where they can analyse and interpret cases instead of memorising 60-70 case laws for one subject. There are few subjects which have extensive cases in the syllabus which invariably will memorised and reproduced. These early years of law school experience will shape and mould the law student to the same system of rote learning in the latter stages as well, thereby, lack the skills of interpretation and critical thinking approach to a problem.

Internationalisation of higher education (chapter 12.4) – the law syllabus is mostly confined to the Indian laws except for few international subjects. The institutional collaboration with the institutes abroad should be in such a way that the foreign students and an Indian student should be able to learn the researching skills mutually and have a comparative learning approach. This will help the students to analyse how the legal system works abroad and how can we implement / change the system if it is archaic or if there is need for new laws, as well learn the researching skills from the foreign students. This way the research universities will be able to work in a systematic way since its establishment.

Instead of having a system where international students are attracted only to research in India, the system is to be developed where it is a symbiotic environment where an Indian student and a foreign student can learn mutually.

National research foundation (Chapter 14)

The NRF should encourage the research at the district level and the research which shall impact the society primarily. The research in the law field is usually confined to the textual / doctrinal form of research, where there is a prerequisite to having known basic knowledge about the discipline. The research methodology should have a slight shift from this, where the NRF should encourage the students to taken up research in and around their locality with regard to legal issues. The lack of legal awareness in the country should be the primary focus in research and its implementation.

Having a mandate with regard to legal aid / legal cell in colleges has merely become a formality, focusing in the rural areas, the basic legal awareness lacks in the urban areas as well.  The social and societal responsibility should not be forced upon through mandate or having kept as a criteria for accreditation rather imbibed in the students where voluntary action brings out better results.

Creating beneficial linkages among government, industry, and researchers (chapter 14.4)  - it is not only to the ministries that the research should focus upon, the true character of research should be where the NRF is able to find out and recognise where in society there is need for implementation of law.

Professional education and legal education (Chapter16.7)

Curriculum to reflect socio-cultural contexts (chapter 16.7.1) – the NEP says that the curriculum should be designed in such a way to include the socio-cultural context. The curriculum should be drafted in such a way that the students should be allowed to design the syllabus with regard to socio –cultural aspects. There is a good diversity of students in a law school with varied exposure which may bring out the need with regard to specific issue, it may either concern their hometown/ or an incident / experience that they have faced.

The NEP advices to impart legal education in the regional language which (chapter 16.7.2) is a well appreciated suggestion. Most of the court proceedings takes place in the regional language and is important to know the legal terms and jargons in the regional language.

Conclusion - there is a need to make legal education infuse with the societal structure and be more inclined towards to the practical social situation than to be read and limited to texts only. The new education policy draft 2019, tries to bring in the aspect of multidisciplinary approach which is much needed. As against Kelsen Pure theory of Law, Law cannot be studied in isolation. NEP may improve the quality of legal education by allowing to specialize in specific area to have better understanding of the domain.

Submitted by - Priyanka Vaidyanath

Research scholar (Law)