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Council of Legal Education stands by decision to conduct law college examinations only in English: Minister
The Council of Legal Education headed by the Chief Justice had recommended that the decision to conduct law college examinations only in English should be implemented without any change, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe informed Parliament today.
He told Parliament that however, having reconsidered the mixed opinions by the government and opposition MPs of the decision, he would discuss it further with the Cheif Justice and inform the House of the final decision.
The Minister made this remark in response to a question raised by SJB MP Hesha Vithanage as to what stance had the government had taken on the concerns raised by the students on making law college examination only in English.
Former Justice Minister Ali Sabri said the decision was taken to conduct law college examinations only in English language after considering the requests of students to do so.
He said some students insisted that law college examinations should be held in English to compete with global requirements and to prevent lawyers of two categories such as English speaking and non-English speaking lawyers being produced by the law college.
Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella said they were not against the move but there should be a transitional period to implement the decision. "It is the government in 1957 that ruined the English eduction in Sri Lanka. The students should not pay the price for that," he said.
Parliamentarians Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Chandima Weerakkody highlighted the need to go ahead with the decision as it was important for students to pass out lawyers with English language competence.
Former Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem said he, as a student came from a rural area, opined that students should be given the opportunity to face the examinations in their mother tongue.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said English language should be promoted from the pre-school and stressed the need to give priority to teaching English at school level. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)
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