In conversation with RK Swami, Delhi Metropolitan Education

Dr. RK Swami is the Director, Delhi Metropolitan Education. In this interview conducted by our Campus Ambassador Ramey Rana, Dr. Swami discusses how DME has reacted to the Covid pandemic, teaching law, and a whole lot more. .How has DME Law School adapted to the COVID pandemic?.The story as to how DME adapted to the pandemic started with the first thought which came heavily upon us was that how things will shape up in such short time as August was the month when classes start and we were in the middle of May already..Anyhow things had to roll up so the department heads and dean finally agreed to start coming to the college. I remember the date which was 13th May when we all first met in the college and those were the days of strict lockdown..I remember how I reached the college showing my E-pass at every picket and finally, all the Department heads met in the college and we started working on the strategy as to how we will conduct classes and provide better service to the students during this pandemic. By that time online classes were adapted by many institutions and we could realize that these online classes were not very successful. They were quite a frustrating exercise and full of fatigue for the students as well as for the teachers. We came to adopt a two-step strategy; the first one was to produce video lectures which would give the same first-rate experience to the students as if they were attending in physical form by making 40-45 minutes video lectures on each subject. .In the second phase, we decided to conduct interactive sessions where the students could come up collectively with their queries and for conducting their PSDA’s as well. By this, I believe that we were able to provide good services with good teaching experience to the students and as the result speaks for itself our 30% of the syllabus is covered up by now..We have received good reviews about our system which is state of the art and unique in itself. This couldn’t have been possible without the hard work and cooperation of our dear professors who took up the challenging task for making Video lectures which are more burdensome than physical teaching. .What do you enjoy most about teaching law?.We all know that teaching law is a very trying in the sense that law is all about the interpretation of something which is like a labyrinth. .Law is full of terms, terminologies, sections and cases which makes it very interesting and at the same time something very complicated to teach. Clearing concepts like ‘Culpable homicide’ ‘Res judicata’ or ‘Res sub judice’ can take hours which makes Law a subject difficult to teach but which makes it dynamic as well. You have to be prepared for something new and challenging every day. .Who was the one law teacher who has had the greatest influence on you?.Professor MP Singh who is now the chancellor of Central University, Haryana and started his career from Meerut though I never got the chance to be personally mentored by him. Our Director-General Justice Bhanwar Singh was taught and mentored by him and through this way, I feel that he is the champion of teachers. I happened to meet him a lot of times and what amazes me is his simplicity and the way he teaches.He is one Law teacher I admire a lot..Why do you think one should study law?.I can tell you that law is needed for making a society a better society. I know many people who are not into practicing law but still as being law graduates, they were much better citizens. .So, law has got multiple roles. I feel the study of law has already contributed a lot in society and still is. If one looks around the society the best of our politicians in any named country were lawyers by profession.