In a letter to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, the Law Students’ Union of Sri Lanka has sought the Chief Justice’s intervention for the reconsideration of slashing lecture fees and law college entrance exam charges.
The Law Students’ Union observed that the increase of the Law Entrance Examination fee from Rs. 6000 to Rs. 15000 has succeeded in excluding students from underprivileged families from pursuing a legal education at Sri Lanka Law College. It was further observed that this move has also failed to increase the revenues of Sri Lanka Law College.
The Law Students’ Union stated that the number of applicants for the General Law Entrance Examination 2023 is around 600, which is a drastic reduction compared to 2022, where almost 4000 candidates had applied. The Students’ Union is of the view that charging an entrance fee of Rs. 15000 would effectively exclude a substantial portion of the Sri Lankan population from even considering applying for the entrance exam.
The Administration’s purported objective of increasing the revenue of Sri Lanka Law College by charging a higher fee for the Entrance Examination too will not be achieved; e.g., 1000 applicants under the current fee structure would generate only LKR 15 million, whereas 3000 or 4000 applicants under the previous fee of Rs. 6,000 would have raised Rs. 18 million or Rs. 24 million, respectively, the letter added.
