Not By The Book
- The HNLU, Raipur, is structured on the lines of the Bangalore Law School and is one of 11 prestigious legal institutes set up in the country.
- Teaching standards abysmal, say students. Some teachers don't even have law degrees, a primary requisite.
- No legal experts have lectured here since it was set up five years ago.
- University still in a makeshift building, no permanent campus yet.
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It isn't everyday that rallies are taken out demanding a vice-chancellor's ouster, nor is it common practice to question a university faculty's credentials. But it's all happening at the prestigious Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) in Raipur where 300 striking students have demanded that V-C M.K. Srivastava and some members of the teaching staff step down.
The litany of complaints is topped by the deteriorating quality of education being imparted: a schoolteacher is taking English classes and a researcher in sociology teaching the rudiments of research methodology in law.
The Student Bar Association, in its 36-page complaint submitted on March 9 to the executive council of the HNLU, has alleged that faculty standards have deteriorated considerably over the last few years. From legal luminaries like G.V. Ajjapa, T.K. Saha and Maheshwar Singh who taught the first batch of law students in 2003 to the present, there has been a steady decline. The researcher in sociology is teaching subjects like 'Law and Tribes' and 'Women and Law'. The students say he doesn't even have a degree in law!
Also on the faculty is the ex-schoolteacher, entrusted with the task of teaching legal English. "The teacher takes classes on basics of English grammar and language while we need help in areas like honing our legalese, drafting skills etc. The selection of such teachers is a case of extreme negligence," says Chandrasekhar, a student from Karnataka studying law at HNLU.
The students also say that all the national law schools boast of eminent jurists and scholars who are invited as guest lecturers. However, none of the famed teachers like Upendra Baxi, P.C. Chandrasekharan—named in the campus brochures—have taken classes at HNLU.
Even more serious is the "Americanised" language lab, whose objective is to impart legal language skills to students. The software provided is more suited to bpo employees than lawyers, the emphasis being on accent, the student memorandum says. The promise of a state-of-the-art university has also not materialised with students still having to take classes in a makeshift building.
V-C Srivastava, meanwhile, dismisses the charges by the students. On the appointment of lecturers, he says it is as per ugc norms (not the University Grants Commission but the Under Graduate Council of HNLU) and cannot be questioned. "Does it say anywhere that a schoolteacher can't rise above his station, acquire the skills to teach in colleges?" he asks. The students have become pawns in a larger game aimed at maligning the institution, the V-C says. "Is it a coincidence that they struck class only after a dispute arose between the contractors building a new residential campus and the administration? Also, the students never presented their complaints to the 13 administrative bodies set up by me to look at grievances," says Srivastava.
The students say they have been complaining all along and it has taken an agitation to turn the focus on the quality of teaching. (A committee has reportedly been set up now under the direction of an SC judge to look into the complaints.)
But behind the agitation is a compelling issue that needs some serious rethinking. Governments, largely responding to political compulsions, have displayed a rare alacrity in setting up colleges without giving any attention to teaching standards. Perhaps HNLU can still be salvaged if the quality of education imparted is given top priority.