SFLC.in wrote a Letter to National Law School of India University in relation to it's decision to conduct its own admissions entrance test the National Law Aptitude Test (“NLAT”) and the problems and difficulties which would be faced by the potential candidates thereof.
While NLSIU has confirmed that it is “fully committed to delivering NLAT 2020 on time and in a student friendly manner”, there are serious issues which remain unaddressed, considering the dismal scenario of access to technical know-how, availability of technological devices and internet access in the country, specially in the rural areas.
In the letter We have urged NLSIU to rethink its decision and pay heed to the following recommendations by SFLC.in:
- Ensuring that the requirements for hardware and software for appearing in NLAT 2020 are vendor neutral.
- Ensuring a time frame for conducting NLAT which allows each candidate sufficient time to arrange or gain access to a laptop or a computer.
- Keeping adequate gap between the mock test and the NLAT 2020 to fix technical issues and in the interest of transparency and fairness, publish a list of problems/FAQs indicating the problems which were faced by the candidates in the Mock test and the steps taken by the university to overcome those issues.
- Facilitating training and guidance to each candidate with respect to technical know how and other information for appearing in the examination online.
- Ensuring that each candidate is given technical assistance/troubleshooting services during the course of his/her online examination.
- Enhancing the outreach of NLAT 2020 by increasing the number of test centers around the country to ensure the safety of potential candidates by reducing the travel time and distance to the minimum extent possible.
We sincerely hope that NLSIU pays heed to the concerns highlighted in this letter and will take into consideration the aforementioned recommendations, in the interest of the candidates participating in NLAT.
The letter sent to National Law School of India University can be found below: