Lack of good teachers is a challenge for legal education in India: Supreme Court's Justice AS Oka

Justice AS Oka of the Supreme Court on Sunday observed that accessibility, quality and a dearth of educators were among the primary challenges faced by the legal education system in India..The shortage of qualified educators in law schools is a significant stumbling block, Justice Oka said..He cited the example of Government Law College, Mumbai, which experienced a 12-year struggle to fill the role of principal. He noted that this situation had forced principal district judges to shoulder the additional responsibility of overseeing the institution."There are vacant teacher posts in practically all law schools. In Government Law College in Mumbai, for 12 years, we could not get a suitable candidate to be appointed as Principal, and therefore, a principal district judge was holding the charge of the Principal of the oldest law college in India.".Justice Oka also touched upon the issue of qualifications for law teachers. He pointed out that the mandatory requirement of NET or SET certification may exclude senior members of the legal community from engaging as part-time lecturers..The judge made these observations during a session on the topic Future of Legal Education: The Next Generation Lawyer, as part of the Bar Council of India's (BCI) International Lawyers' Conference..Justice Oka also raised questions about the contribution of national law schools and private law schools to the legal fraternity. He questioned whether these institutions were fulfilling their objective of producing well-rounded legal professionals."The question is whether our national law schools or other private law schools are only creating corporate lawyers? Are they really creating good trial lawyers? Are they encouraging young students to join the judiciary? These questions are to be debated because there is a view, a thought process, about our national law schools that they are not giving back what was expected of them," he said. .Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also echoed the concerns raised by Justice Oka about national law schools and their original objectives. Notably, he referred to the disappointment expressed by the late Professor NR Madhava Menon, a pioneer in the establishment of national law universities (NLUs), regarding the progress of these institutions."As my learned brother has pointed out a lacuna in the legal education system, I must also point out that the NLUs were set up with a definitive objective in mind. Now, it's time to look back and take a realistic assessment - whether the objective has been achieved. Prof (NR) Madhava Menon, who himself was the architect of the NLU structure, had expressed his disappointment with the way the NLUs are progressing," he said..The discussion also focused on whether law schools are effectively instilling constitutional philosophy and values like secularism and democracy in their students. Justice Oka urged for a thorough examination of the role that educational institutions play in shaping the legal mindset of the next generation."Are we inculcating constitutional philosophy and values like secularism and democracy in our law students? Are our law schools, colleges doing that? It is necessary for us to find out the flaws in the current legal education system. If we understand and accept them, then only we will be able to think about the future."