700 students fail LDC pre-entry examinations
Buyaga West MP Barnabas Tinkasimire is one of the prominent figures that failed the pre-entry exams of the LDC. PHOTO BY Geoffrey SSERUYANGE.
What you need to know:
Tight net. The pre-entry examinations at LDC are aimed at weeding out sub-standard law students and indeed many have failed to get this coveted diploma.
Kampala
Buyaga West MP Barnabas Tinkasimire is among the 777 lawyers who have failed pre-entry examinations of the Law Development Centre, denting their chances of pursuing the post-graduate diploma that qualifies them to become High Court advocates.
Results of three lawyers were withheld pending investigation. MP Theodere Ssekikubo, who last year together with Mr Tinkasimire failed the exams, has passed. According to the results pinned on LDC notes board on Friday, of the 1,075 law graduates who sat the exams, only 299 (27.8 per cent) passed and 777 (72 per cent) failed.
Lawyers’ poor performance at pre-entry exams continue to worry many since their introduction in 2010. For instance, of the 756 and 789 students who sat the same exams in 2010/11 and 2011/12 academic years, 433 and 366 failed respectively, implying that only 323 and 423 passed in both academic years . In 2012/2013, the performance has not improved either as more than 70 per cent of the candidates have failed the pre-entry.
A source at the law council that preferred anonymity because he is not supposed to speak on behalf of the council told the Daily Monitor that those who excelled were able to explain common legal concepts as well as solving basic law issues.
No option
“These failures are worrying but we have nothing to do because we want quality lawyers. For those who don’t know the basics, what legal profession will they practice after 11 months at LDC?” a source asked yesterday.
Makerere University produced the highest number of those who failed the exams, contributing 43 per cent of the total failures, followed by Uganda Christian University at 25.4 per cent. Kampala International University had 17.1 per cent of their students failing, Nkumba University (18.8per cent) and Islamic University in Uganda ( 18 per cent ).
The pre-entry examinations at LDC are conducted by the Law Council with the aim of weeding out sub-standard students who have in the past been blamed for the massive failures at the centre. To qualify for the Bar Course, students are required to pass written examinations to test their knowledge of the core university law courses. The new guidelines were set by the Law Council.
The core law courses include; Legal Methods, Constitutional Law, Torts, Criminal Law, Law of Contract, Evidence and Criminal and Civil Procedure.
LDC is the only institution in the country which admits law graduates to obtain diplomas in legal practice. A lawyer cannot practice as an advocate of the High Court in Uganda without the diploma. The course takes eleven months but some students spend three years at the Centre and still fail to leave with the diploma.
