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Is multi-lingual CLAT inevitable now?
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/english-no-longer-compulsory-class-11-12-students-new-scf-rules-9350129/
Or you’re suggesting we don’t do all this in law school ? It’ll be the only country where our best institutions don’t teach this to their lawyers but okay- what else goes that has literature mostly in English ? All of tech law , entertainment law , intellectual property, corporate law , securities , banking, taxation - all of that is in English, sometimes very difficult to parse language. So we do away with those courses then ?
How you propose they read legislation in English and interpret it ? How do you propose they read court cases and glean precedent?
How do you propose they manage law school ?
We should make it all multi lingual ? So what happens ? Students outside Hindi belt cannot go to North Indian law schools ? Only Marathi students go to law schools in Maharashtra ? Only kannadiga students for NLS and only Telugu students for Nalsar and only Bengalis in NUJS ? Or are you suggesting that every law school hire hundreds of profs so each student can learn in his mother tongue ?
What exactly is the plan here ?
The exam isn’t just a barrier for entry- believe it or not the exam serves a purpose - to test whether the student would - at a very minimal level - be able to handle the work that’s thrown at them .
This is a stupid stupid idea. And even more so because the CLAT is a stupid easy exam at least with English- it tests the bare minimum - it tests basic reading comprehension.it’s not asking you to recite Shakespeare or make sense of Judith butler.
Most Indians didn’t learn English as their first language - we all picked it up in school and don’t speak it to our parents - I’m sorry for people who didn’t get to a good school and couldn’t learn it. I also think it’s a loss that their other talents might go unrecognised because of the English language. But surely if they are exceptional students they would do the difficult thing and learn the language ? Everyone has a smartphone now ? YouTube ? There are many ways to learn it ?
This “English is oppression” stuff is just a luxury belief propagated by woke idiots who want to how everyone how virtuous they are. Poor people want to learn English- the idea that if they manage to learn or teach their children this thing - they could use it to pull themselves out of poverty- that’s actually a liberating idea because it values intelligence and hard work. Every driver, maid, cleaner, gardener I know works everyday to learn to speak English and makes sure their kids go to English medium schools. By your scheme they should suffer for their industry and should be punished for trying to do better for themselves. Their kids shouldn’t aspire to have a life of the mind where they read about the world and read authors from western countries. They should get second class degrees that help them become jobbing lawyers and nothing more.
I bet you would love to go to Oxford, Harvard, Yale , work at white and case , Mckenzie , Allen and overy, linklaters,- but not for those kids yeah ? Under all your “benevolence” they will just go to law school to work at their local district court. Because no one ever requires them to learn English.
Ambedkar said to educate , organise, agitate. He learned some ten languages in his life and wrote extensively in English. He went to Columbia and LSE with his English skills. He told Dalit people that they should embrace modernity and respectability - that they should dress in western clothes and go to school and university and get their degrees and get a good job.
What you want is something else. You think knowledge itself - even aspiring to it - the whole education system - it’s all oppression. People shouldn’t modernise because it feeds into “colonialism” and people shouldn’t be ambitious and let’s ask about farming practices in CLAT, and let’s do away with it altogether. Well- before all of this there was feudalism and nepotism. That’s the opposite of a meritocracy. You’re not on the good side here.
First, this is one of the few comments I have seen on this topic which makes sense! You truly understand, man, you truly understand! None of this victimhood mentality that these woke virtue signalling brats love to propagate for you. As a blind person who 'looks blind' (with one eye looking smaller than the other because of its retina’s collapse in an operation) (mods please don't redact) and who has made it through law school to the other side, I would like to meet you and shake you by the hand.
Second and final point (and sorry for being a pedant), but it's 'Allen & Overy' :).
The policy of conducting CLAT in regional languages is an ill-conceived, regressive measure that threatens to dismantle the very foundations of legal education in India. This absurd policy is not just a step backward; it is a leap into an abyss of mediocrity and provincialism, effectively sabotaging the aspirations of countless students who dream of engaging with the global legal community. It ignores the reality that the legal profession in India, and indeed worldwide, is deeply entrenched in English. Legal texts, landmark judgments, and critical legal scholarship are overwhelmingly available in English or foreign languages. Introducing regional languages into CLAT would create an insurmountable barrier for students when they face the inevitable reality of English-dominated legal education and practice.
This policy, under the guise of inclusivity, is a farce that will fragment the legal fraternity along linguistic lines, leading to insular education systems. Imagine the chaos of having state-based legal education monopolized by regional languages: Marathi for Maharashtra, Kannada for Karnataka, Bengali for West Bengal. This Balkanization of legal education is not just impractical; it is downright disastrous. It will force students to attend law schools in their home states, effectively trapping them in a localized educational bubble and depriving them of the rich, diverse educational experience that comes from interacting with peers from across the country. This policy will cripple the national integration that law schools should foster, instead fostering regional parochialism and mediocrity.
Moreover, this multilingual CLAT policy is a slap in the face to meritocracy. The current CLAT structure, which includes English comprehension, serves as a critical benchmark to ensure that students possess the essential skills required to excel in legal education and beyond. By diluting this standard, we are not leveling the playing field; we are lowering the bar to the point of absurdity. It is an insult to the intelligence and hard work of students who have strived to master English, often against considerable odds. The proponents of this misguided policy are delusional if they believe that regional language proficiency can substitute the global lingua franca that English has become.
Also side note: way more Hindi belt nationalists jack off Hindi than "woke" idiots
English language is just a tool for many. Without this, they would just be giving up opportunites -- some they might not even know exist!
The major issue with regards to English language is the already created heirarchy in schools. The schools that are in English medium are more expensive than others. This makes it a big issue because this congruate the fees of the school with the value of English language. At the end of the day, it is just a tool. An important one, but just a tool.
If only we had better primary education, these problems would not be as big as they seem to be today.
Either way, the language is much easier to learn than English -- it just seems intimidating to those who haven't had an English education in thier school because of the inflated value of the language and the disgusting superiority displayed by some of the English speaking chaps in our country.
This policy decision of the Maharashtra government won't change anything on the ground.
Rather would only create an educational divide in mnlus among Marathi and non-Marathi [Most unwarranted thing as of now] , anyway my boy from Marathwada would thrive in every condition.