Law students say no to internal tests
MUMBAI: Students from various law colleges in the city on Tuesday staged a protest on the campus of Mumbai University (MU) against the decision to introduce 'internal' assessment for three and five-year Bachelor of Legislative Law (LLB) examinations as it may lead to malpractices.
The internal assessment is a part of the new choice-based credit system (CBCS) curricula for law courses approved by the MU’S academic council in June. In the internal assessment, which will account for 40% of the marks,students will be evaluated on term work, participation in college activities, class tests and their conduct in the classroom.
The students, led by the Student Law Council (SLC), a citybased group, alleged that the decision will give colleges more control over students' assessment and may lead to malpractices.
The decision came shortly after the university decided that all but final year law examinations will be conducted by colleges. "It will allow colleges, ones without proper infrastructure and professors, to indulge in corrupt practices," said Sachin Pawar, president, SLC.
Pawar also pointed out that the varsity has done away with the internal assessment for BA, Bcom and BSC. "A few powerful authorities are forcing to implement it for the Law stream," he said. However, in the case of selffinanced courses, 25% marks continued to be allotted for internal assessment.
Proponents of the new evaluation method defended it, arguing that it will compensate for the shortcomings of written tests. They said that it will improve students' attendance and participation in classroom and activities of law colleges, which suffer from low attendance. However, some believe that colleges are not equipped with implementing the decision in its true spirit.