Why Law Council should be transparent with students results

By Brian Kisomose

The pre entry LDC examinations are set and marked by the law council and LDC receives results of successful candidates one cannot enroll for the postgraduate bar course without passing this exam.

Recently a total of 912 out of 1,272 students who sat for the pre entry exams failed to qualify for admission to the bar course.

This has caused mixed reactions among various parties who are concerned. One senior lawyer said that he does not think that such a big number can actually fail this exam and he is not the only one who subscribes to this school of thought. The law council only issues a list of successful students without the actual marks each student has scored whether above or below 50% which is the pass mark as published by the media and displayed at LDC notice board. Those who feel want to know their marks they individually apply to the secretary law council using their index numbers and the same are availed to them and not to the public.

For avoidance of doubt, my humble recommendations to the law council are that, all students’ results who sit for the pre-entry exam should be published by their respective names or index numbers and the actual mark one could have scored so as to know who scored above or below the pass mark just like what Makerere University School of Law does for the pre-entry exam for the bachelor of laws programme.

This will also help to rebut allegations that law development centre admits a number of students depending on the resources they have. Over the years, the number of students admitted for the bar course has not been consistent but it all depends on the number of students who pass the pre entry exam as approved by the law council. This is evidenced by the previous academic year where over six hundred students were admitted. 

Furthermore, students should be given an opportunity to appeal against the marks in case they are aggrieved or have their answer scripts reviewed or remarked, if justifiable. This way they will also have an opportunity of seeing comments that were put on their scripts by whoever marked if any as opposed to reading a general report that is issued by the council after releasing the results. Once this is done then concerned parties will not be in doubt as to whether the exam is intended to malice the students or it is for a just cause. This also enables students who fail to know where they could have gone wrong so as to better place them in case they are to give it a try again.

The law council should conduct a pre examination briefing or issue guidelines on how to answer or approach this exam before subjecting the same to the students as opposed to setting the exam on a presumption that students were prepared by the various schools of law where they attained their respective degrees so as to reduce the failure rate.

It has been argued by quite a majority that the pass mark changes according to the general performance of the students. If majority pass then it is increased and not vice versa. This can only be proved by publication of actual results students get so that the public is not kept in the shadow of ignorance and doubt. It is my humble submission to the law council, stake holders and the concerned parties that the fore going recommendations be put into consideration so as to ensure justice and due process throughout this exercise.

The writer is a lawyer