In actual fact, what was defeated in parliament recently was not a proposal only to conduct teaching at Law College in the English medium.
We know that the entire free education of law plunged into a serious crisis due to the law degree offering institutions that mushroomed of late. Law education became the best example of the dire consequences of commercializing education. By 2016, state universities, Law College and five institutions offered free law education, and there were 14 private institutions offering the same, while 10 more were due to open.
As a result of an endless struggle by lawyers sensitive to this tragic situation, a Bar Association appointed committee in 2016 studied matters at length and unveiled a report on extensive reforms in law education. That report basically proposed to further strengthen free law education and uplift their standards to international levels.
Secondly, a regulation of the private institutions that offer law degrees and restricting the number of Law College enrolments from these institutions were recommended.
The key proposal was to hold a competitive examination to select a limited number of students from these institutions for enrolment to the Law College.
With this proposal came an attempt at sabotage by those who had hoped to sell law degrees and those parents who wanted to see their children become lawyers by any way possible.
The result was a several years of delay in the implementation of the report’s recommendations once approved by the Law Education Council and gazetted. Also, they bided their time until someone with whom they could strike a deal sat on the minister’s seat.
A minor proposal contained in that report was a gradual transformation of the study medium at Law College into English. Nowhere has it had a proposal to do that overnight or completely. However, degree sellers channeled their money and efforts to distort that by highlighting the English medium learning aspect. But, it failed.
Ultimately, the climax of their pains came to be realized with the uncalled for presentation of the related gazette in the House. For that, they spent in the millions.
Therefore, what was defeated is not a proposal to teach law education in the English medium. What was defeated was the entire proposal for the regulation of law education to prevent selling of law degrees. Most MPs, including those in the opposition, fraudulently and dishonestly forced the proposal to be brought up and voted it down to send the entire report to defeat.
The views expressed make it clear that society is without an understanding of what actually had happened.
These conspiracies reiterate again and again the distortion of representative democracy, and that those rascals of MPs never stand with the people and the future generation, and that parliament is only a blood-sucking institution that destroys the people’s future and everything held sacred.
Ramzi Bacha
(Translation of an article posted in Ramzai Bacha’s facebook page)
