If students till date had the option of choosing a conventional graduation degree in science or arts subjects, then there is something unconventional in the pipelines -- BA (Law).
And students could be given a working knowledge of law up to class XII by including elementary and essential law in the school curriculum.
HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said ongoing efforts to overhaul the legal education system included starting a graduation degree in law so that students after passing class XII could have the option of going for not only a BSc or BA degreee but also a BA (Law).
The five-year law courses started in the recent past saw the students acquiring law degrees in addition to conventional graduation and the proposal to give an exclusive three-year graduation degree in law after class XII emanated from the overwhelming play of law in various other professions.
After inaugurating a modern consultation room for lawyers in the Supreme Court on Thursday, the HRD minister said given the speed of development and the challenges in the 21st century, a working knowledge in law had become essential to other professions and it would not be a bad idea to impart lessons in elementary law to school children.
Sibal's initiative to set up a round table on reforms in legal education had recently encountered stiff resistance from the Bar Council of India (BCI), the statutory body regulating legal education and profession.
Sibal does not want a confrontation. He said BCI did not have the warewithal to deal with the exhaustive reforms being contemplated in the field of legal education to equip lawyers to meet the challenges thrown up in the 21st century.
"But, we want them on board. We want their suggestions. Putting up resistance to reforms with an antiquated mindset would not help anyone's cause. They are most welcome to come and participate in the process of chalking out the specific areas of reforms," he said to a good gathering of lawyers and seeking their support.
