Editorials

EDITORIAL: Law exams plan timely

advocates

Some of the advocates who were admitted to the Bar in December 2016 at the Supreme Court buildings. FILE PHOTO | NMG

A proposal to introduce pre-university assessments for students wishing to pursue law degree programmes is long overdue.

The move has been sparked by the alarming and huge failure rate of students at local institutions of higher learning offering law courses.

A study by a task force on legal sector reforms found that 16,086 students sat for Bar examinations between 2009 and 2016 where only 7,530 passed the exams.

The 53 per cent failure rate in law exams is shocking as it reveals that the standards bar at our institutions are quite low. The pre-university assessment would help in ensuring that only the best qualified pursue the professional courses.

READ: Over half of law graduates fail to qualify as advocates

One major cause of the high failure rate has been identified as the rapid proliferation of universities across the country offering specialised courses while lacking qualified faculty members.

The taskforce report noted that there was a correlation between the high failure rate and the increased enrolment at the institutions.

This is unacceptable and should come to a stop. Our education system deserves better.