On 6th March, Supreme Court of Pakistan issued an order that Law Admission Test (LAT) is mandatory for all those students who want to take admission in law. The decision has taken in haste and implemented just before the announcement of admission. The verdict has badly impacted education career of many students.
Majority students of far-flung areas were not aware of the fact that law admission test is mandatory for law graduation. The advertisement did not circulate on social media and middle class students remained unaware of it.
The students will pay huge price for it in the form of cancellation of admission or will have to enroll themselves in other fields. It was the responsibility of the authorities to direct the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to implement the decision of court from next year but that didn’t happen.
The fulfillment of online form was mandatory but sometimes the website was not working properly. The process was very cumbersome and it was not possible for each and every student to fill the form.
Moreover, majority students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and Balochistan have not any access to internet. Hence, they faced problems to get themselves registered. The SC, somehow, neglect those areas which lack internet facility.
Further, there is no information about the test result while many universities wind-up their admission process. The delay in result announcement will automatically impact classes of students. As a result, it will be very difficult for universities to manage time for students.
On 1st September, the court announced that after graduation all students of law will have to appear in another test which is Law Assessment Test to get license. In my opinion, once students passed Law Admission Test then there is no need of Law Assessment Test.
Also, the verdict is only related to students and did not say a single word regarding the law teachers. Because, the enhancement of law will come through good teachers and professors.
In majority of law colleges, the faculty is only having master degree and are teaching on contract. Therefore, it is necessary to recruit all the teachers on permanent basis.
There is dire need to bring some major reforms in the institutions offering law degree i.e. to upgrade libraries in law colleges and to update the course with modern lines.