LAHORE, July 15: The higher education department is sitting on a set of proposals on how to reform law education in the province in view of the complaints of its deterioration by the Punjab Public Service Commission.

The proposals were made by the law department of the provincial government after finding serious complaints regarding the poor performance of law graduates in the recently issued annual report of the PPSC.

Sources told Dawn that there seemed to be no progress by the higher education department which was requested to also consult universities and law colleges in public and private sectors on the issue.

The proposals say the duration of the legal education should be enhanced from the existing three years to five years as is being done in India. Law students should be admitted to the related institutions after intermediate.

Law should also be introduced as an optional subject at the intermediate level. Those opting for it should be given preference at the time of admission to the LLB course.

The examination system should be changed and made objective. It should be problem solving, allowing students to learn to plead case with relevant arguments and legal citations.

The minimum qualification of the law faculty should be LLM instead of LLB. Every law institution should have a minimum permanent faculty or a workforce devoted purely to education.

There should be periodic review of law education so as to develop its nexus with the required socioeconomic development in the country. A peer-review system should be introduced to check the quality of teaching.

There should be a dedicated law university on the pattern of the University of Health Sciences. And all law colleges in public or private sectors should be affiliated with it.