[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE draft National Education Policy (NEP) submitted by a nine-member committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturirangan, to the Union Minister of Human Resource Development has asserted the need for a new legal education policy to make the study of law socially and culturally relevant to help drive the country into the future.
Professional education in law, according to draft NEP, has to be globally competitive, adopting best practices and embracing new technologies for wider access to justice and timely delivery of justice. Hence, a new legal education policy is imperative for assigning direction for future change.
The draft NEP has emphasised that the curriculum should reflect socio-cultural contexts. It is the function of legal education to transmit the foundational values of Indian democracy to learners in order to give legal studies the necessary social relevance and acceptability.
In doing so, the law curriculum has to fall back upon the culture and traditions of people, the history of legal institutions and the victory of “Dharma” over “Adharma” writ large in Indian literature and mythology, the draft NEP says.
Further, there is growing consensus worldwide, according to draft NEP, that the study and practice of law cannot be independent of the culture of society, including the study of classical law texts. Hence, concerned authorities in universities must ensure that the curriculum reflects, in an evidence-based manner, the history of legal thinking, principles of justice, practice of jurisprudence and other related content appropriately and adequately.
Multilingual education
The draft NEP points out that legal transactions at the lower courts are conducted in their regional languages whereas those at the High Courts and Supreme Court continues to be in English, in most states in India.
This, according to draft NEP, contributes to the considerable delay in legal outcomes as cases can move up only after relevant documentation has been translated. State institutions offering law education must consider offering bilingual education for future lawyers and judges – in English and in the language of the State in which the law programme is situated.
To facilitate this transition, the draft NEP suggests that, a host of measures be undertaken such as, inducting teachers who are well versed in the regional language as well as English, making textbooks and study materials available in both languages, and allowing examinees to write their examination in either medium.
In addition, special cells for translating legal materials from the state language to English and vice-versa must be set up and students who are fluent in both languages could be invited/incentivised to contribute to the work of the translation cells.
The Committee has expressed its gratitude to late Prof N.R. Madhava Menon among others for providing crucial inputs, suggestions and guidance with regard to the formulation of policy aspects of professional legal education.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has also released the draft National Education Policy for public consultation. Comments and suggestions, if any, may be mailed to [email protected] before June 30, 2019.
Read the draft National Education Policy.
[pdfviewer]https://cdn.theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03125930/Draft_NEP_2019_EN.pdf[/pdfviewer]
