TIRUCHY: From revamping curriculum to include latest developments in cyber law, international trade law and other such areas, bringing in modifications including practice-based aspects like court visits and moot court, to standardising the number of seats in all affiliated colleges, the review committee set up by the Directorate of Legal Studies have come up with a number of proposals that aims to increase the quality of legal education in Tamil Nadu.
“We have listed all aspects that are to be changed in the system and will submit a report to the directorate. This report will comprise of suggestions by the committee which will be discussed in a national seminar that is slated to be held by the middle of April,” J Vincent Comraj, principal of Government Law College, Tiruchy who chaired the committee told Express.
The committee was set up to take measures to increase the standard of legal education in the State to the level of noted institutes like National Law Schools, reputed deemed law universities and other schools of excellence.
“We had a very tough task of analysing the entire system from top to bottom to identify its drawbacks,” Vincent said.
The major areas reviewed by the committee were curriculumm syllabus, infrastructure, examination, teaching methodology, court visits and other aspects related to legal studies. After review and consultation with judges of the High Court and Supreme Court, and academicians, the committee identified the areas that need improvement.
‘The main areas where we found drawbacks are curriculum, infrastructure and the availability of faculty members in a college. The current curriculum has very limited concentration over cyber law, international trade law and other areas of specialisation that recently emerged. Similarly, the number of faculty available with the institutions is hardly 20 per cent of the required number. Only 40 to 45 per cent of the sanctioned staff are now employed,” Vincent added.
The suggestions also include setting up institutions within 60-100 kms so that it is accessible to students across the State; reduce the number of students to an almost uniform figure in all institutions, revamping curriculum and more regular, full-time faculty among others. The report will be submitted to the directorate by the end of this month, Vincent added.