In Uganda, only 9.8% of students pursuing a career as an advocate passed examinations for the 2019/2020 academic year, leading calls to abolish the bar course.
Although 1474 students took the exam, just 145 passed.
1329 students, or 90.2%, were unsuccessful.
This is not the first time that the bar course’s relevance and the competency of the Law Development Centre (LDC), the only supplier of the postgraduate diploma in legal practice, have been called into doubt.
Ugandan law requires graduates with a legal degree to join in an eight-month training program at the LDC before working as advocates.
Without the diploma, a lawyer cannot practice as an advocate of the High Court of Uganda.
Uganda has over ten institutions that are certified to teach law and graduate hundreds of students each year.
However, only a small percentage of those applicants are admitted to the center owing to similarly stringent pre-entry examinations. Only a tiny percentage of students graduate.
The pre-entry examinations have since been eliminated.
“This is the first group of bar course students admitted without undergoing pre-entry examination. A number of them were unable to cope with the academic demands of the course. They didn’t give it due focus,” said Frank Nigel Othembi, the LDC director.
However, his defense was soon disregarded by social media users. Some demanded a probe of the center’s high failure rate, while others demanded an end to the center’s monopoly.
The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) also stepped in, stating that it will ‘continue to stand with affected students.’
Others have questioned whether the center have the necessary resources to offer the course.
Uganda’s parliament has previously rejected proposals to liberalize bar course education.
The course’s proponents claim that it is vital to eliminate substandard parts.
This is not the first time that the LDC’s shortcomings have generated requests for investigation. Only 64 students passed the test out of 358 who attempted it during the 2012/2013 academic year.
