• Chief Govt. Whip seeks written submission from Oppo. to discuss with advisory comm. 

The Opposition alleged that due to the inconvenience caused to many law students by the increase in the examination fees of the Sri Lanka Law College (SLLC), consequently, legal education has once again become a symbol of a certain privileged community.

Speaking in the Parliament yesterday (23), the Leader of the Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sajith Premadasa questioned as to what was the basis for increasing the fees by such a large amount at once. “A recent Gazette notification has increased the exam admission fee by 257%. The entrance exam fee has been increased by 150%. This situation is unbearable for the students. The first year students have to pay Rs. 67,500. They have to pay it in two separate installments: Rs. 40,000 as the first payment and Rs. 27,500 as the second. When they could not pay even Rs. 27,500, the students were asked to pay it in another two installments. This is a serious situation,” he said. According to Premadasa, the admission fee for the examination has been increased up to Rs. 2,500 while Rs. 20,000 should be paid by a student if he/she takes all the eight subjects. “On what basis have these fees been increased? If necessary, it should be implemented without causing any inconvenience to the students. I request to suspend this increase and discuss again about increasing the amount that the children can afford,” he added.

Meanwhile, Opposition Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa claimed that it appears that there is a plan to separate the legal field for one privileged class. “The former Justice Minister (a reference to incumbent Foreign Affairs Minister President’s Counsel M.U.M. Ali Sabry) brought a Gazette earlier. It was defeated in this Parliament. It stated that Sinhala and Tamil children should face exams in the English medium. There, they tried to continue the dominance of the Judiciary only to a certain class,” he claimed.

SJB MP Hesha Withanage also said that many students who completed the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from state universities had given up sitting for the SLLC final exam because those students cannot afford the examination fee.

However, in response to the Opposition’s claims, the Chief Government Whip, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said that this matter can be taken into discussion at the relevant advisory committee if a written submission is made.

As per the Gazette notification, preliminary year students, who directly enter from the general entrance examination, now have to pay Rs.25,000 as the admission fee and Rs.25,000 as the lecture fee, and a total of Rs.67,500 for the first academic year. Preliminary year students who enter the Law College with a foreign LL.B. degree are charged Rs.117,500 in total for the first academic year including an admission fee of Rs.75,000. At the same time, the intermediate and final year students will have to pay a total of Rs.40,500 and Rs.50,500, respectively, for the particular academic years.