End-term examination to be mandatorily conducted by all law schools: Expert Committee formed by BCI

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has accepted the recommendation of the High-Level Expert Committee that end-term examinations must be mandatorily conducted for intermediate and final year students at all law schools..Universities have been granted discretion with respect to the mode of examination. The Committee has permitted online, offline, blended, online open book exams, assessment-based evaluation or research papers as modes of evaluation..The report submitted by the Committee also states,“The Committee also took note of the earlier resolutions adopted by Bar Council of India on 27.05.2020, 06.09.2020, 05.10.2020 and 01.11.2020 which had stipulated examinations for all semesters, and wherein guidelines regarding the mode of conduct of examination/evaluation had been issued, and unanimously agreed that the University/Centers of Legal Education are free to determine the mode of evaluation/examination for promotion and for award of the Law Degree and for the conduct of examination.”.The Committee was set up in light of grievances surrounding the conduct of examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic aired by law students from across the country. This, after the BCI decided not to issue guidelines on its own with regard to the holding of examinations for intermediate semester or final semester students..Former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Govind Mathur had chaired this Committee, which also comprised Prof (Dr) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi; Prof (Dr) V Vijayakumar, Vice-Chancellor of National Law Institute University, Bhopal; Prof (Dr) Vijender Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Nagpur; Prof (Dr) Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of National Law School of India University, Bengaluru; and Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, among others..Thousands of students had written to the BCI, and some heads of institutions had also sought the BCI’s guidance in matters pertaining to exams and promotions. The majority of students had asked for alternate methods of assessment in light of the pandemic..This report comes shortly after the students of Faculty of Law, Delhi University moved the High Court of Delhi, seeking cancellation of previous fourth semester exams..The students also wrote to the Expert Committee requesting implementation of Assignment Based Assessment..[Read the Press Release here]