Law entrance exam, revert to earlier system - Committee

The Committee appointed by the Minister of Justice and Law Reforms Milinda Moragoda, to consider reforms to the Law Education in Sri Lanka, presented its report to the Minister recently.

According to the report submitted to the minister the committee has recommended that the Law College entrance examinations should revert to the earlier system i.e. General Knowledge and IQ test and Language papers, one in English and other in Sinhala/Tamil.

The committee has also recommended that the entrance examination should be conducted by the Open University of Sri Lanka, and that the candidates should possess a minimum of two credits at the GCE Advanced Level Examination, and should be below the age of 35 years. It has also recommended that all subjects be revised to include the new developments in Law into the syllabi of Sri Lanka Law College.

It has also been suggested that the Core areas such as Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Contract, Delicts, Criminal Law, Law of Persons and Property, and Commercial Law be taught with reference to basic principles and statutes. It is recommended that students should be given the opportunity of actively participating in the course through seminars.

Accordingly, Law College Lectures will be conducted in all three languages while progressively introducing more subjects only in English. However students will be given the choice to answer the examinations in any language (in all three years).

The Committee comprised Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice (Dr.) Shirani A. Banadaranayake (Chairperson), Solicitor General W. G. P. Dep, P.C. Dean Faculty of Law University of Colombo, N. Selvakkumaran, Principal Law College, Dr. W. D. Rodrigo, Senior Lecturer Department of Legal Studies Open University, Dr. Camena Guneratne, Precedent Partner, Julius and Creasy, J. M. Swaminathan, Attorney-at-law, Gomin Dayasri, Senior Partner Murgesu and Neelakandan, K. Neelakandan, Precedent Partner Paul Ratnayake Associates Paul Ratnayake, and three joint secretaries. Dilhan de Silva, Saravanan Neelakandan, and Ayendra Wickremesekera.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Justice is contemplating in setting up a legal information Centre for the benefit of litigants, lawyers and other interested citizens to facilitate them to obtain necessary information relating to the administration of justice system in Sri Lanka.