The National Education Policy’s emphasis on regional language in academic curriculum, seems to have been appreciated by the legal experts. This move however was met with much protest for implementation in medical and engineering streams. “In district court, regional language plays a significant role. Implementation of regional language in academic curriculum will help to conduct legal affairs at grass root level,” a senior law professor of Delhi University, on the condition of anonymity, told FE Education. In March 2022, the Bar Council of India (BCI) and University Grants Commission (UGC) suggested implementation of legal education in 12 regional languages.
However, experts believe that to implement regional language in legal education, one of the important concerns is the availability of texts and other contents. As per the professor, who did not want to be named, institute can only teach in regional languages provided it have necessary resources. Few of the institutions have already started to translate the academic course into regional language. But complete implementation of vernacular text-based courses will need more time.
Interestingly, in light of the NEP’s multiple entry-exit options across higher education institutions, experts opined that in legal education, such a system will not be beneficial as it will disrupt students’ careers. “In legal education, students cannot utilise a one or two year diploma. A traditional law-career requires five years of degree,” Asha Verma, law professor, Institute of Integrated Learning in Management University. Furthermore, experts believe that the NEP’s focus on vernacularisation of academic affairs, will restrict law-aspirants within the national periphery.
In terms of law entrance examination and preparation strategists, ed-tech players and coaching institutes does not expect major changes in admission preparation. “Although the course curriculum might change, the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is unlikely to change as the syllabus of entrance is completely different from the discourse. As of now, in the ed-tech industry, there has not been much changes in legal courses,” Gaurav Goel, founder, Topranker, said.
Multidisciplinarity is another area that the NEP 2020 emphasises on. With the introduction of such a system, it is likely that stand alone universities might offer law as an additional subject along with core or minor subjects. “At IILM, law courses have been introduced as a value added programme, which aims to benefit the students with various career prospects. Combinations such as law and psychology or business and law can be beneficial for students aspiring to be criminal psychologists or corporate lawyers,” Verma said.
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