The Higher Education Review

Bisecting 'Gods Own Country', Kerala, the bank of river Bharatapuzha, which is also known as Nila, is beautiful beyond what words can describe. Like any river valley civilization, Nila has allowed arts, literature and education to flourish on her banks. Promoted by Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust, which runs 19 institutions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Nehru Academy of Law is esthetically placed in this fertile land, providing a conducive environment for learning and gaining excellence. In fact, the Managing Trustee of the institute, Adv. Dr. P. Krishnadas was an advocate by profession. His ardent dream to set up and develop a law college at par with the national law schools resulted in the establishment of Nehru Academy of Law, which now stands apart from the nation's conventional law colleges in a number of ways.

"Nehru Academy of Law was established with a clear vision of developing a most sought after institution in the country for legal education with difference. It aims to make learning law a pleasure, rather than confining it to another academic ritualistic institution," opines Dr. P. D. Sebastian, Principal, Nehru Academy of Law. Despite being a young institution in the realm of legal education, Nehru Academy of Law has already received appreciations from the stakeholders of education for its innovative clinical aid method of legal teaching. The College uses both modern teaching with permanently fixed projector in each classrooms and traditional chalk and talk with black board. It is well supported and backed with excellent infrastructural facilities and amenities.

The Making of Successful Lawyers

"An uninterrupted logical flow of words from the mouth is the success of any lawyer. To develop a horde of students brimming with confidence, we need to give them training right from the beginning of their law course," opines Dr. Sebastian. Unlike traditional classrooms, the flow of knowledge is not one directional at the Nehru Academy of Law. The institute empowers every student to address their friends in the class by way of presentation of each subject and to speak to audience on subject of current interest in weekly seminars. Dr. Sebastian elaborates, "Due to lack of confidence, many students, especially those who come from the rural background, stammer in front of a crowd. Failure is part of life; expecting to progress in life without facing any hurdle sounds unrealistic and failure prepares student to get stronger in life. Here, we convince students that avoiding failure also prevents you from focusing on gaining the resiliency needed to cope with it."

"Nehru Academy of Law empowers every student to address their friends in the class by way of presentation of each subject and to speak to audience on subject of current interest in weekly seminars." - Dr. P. D. Sebastian

Nehru Academy of law is always keen in encouraging the students to participate in national moot court, seminars and conferences. The faculty members help them in their memorial preparation and argument note preparation in moot court competition. Various student oriented clubs like Moot Court club, Legal Aid Club, Cultural club, debate club, Nature Club, Sports Club and many more form an integral part of the college. "As we are affiliated to Calicut University, we have certain limitations in introducing new topics and revamping the syllabus. We arrange talk by experts in subjects of current interest for updating general knowledge of our students," shares Dr. Sebastian.

The institute's B.B.A., LL.B programme provides students with their foundation in legal reasoning and critical analysis of issues both inside and outside the class by way

of presentation and by way of debate during seminars and so on. Dr. Sebastian states, "Textbook to reality, word to deed and theory to practice are universal. We try to achieve this by sending students to various segments where law is active like a day in a police station, a day in a bank, a day in village office and many others in addition to the court and chamber visit. Here all students get an opportunity to observe how IPC or Cr.P.C work, how negotiable instrument Act is important or how serious the revenue laws are."

Considering the fact that all of its B.B.A.,LL.B students are teenagers, the college has entrusted every student under a teacher who will act as mentor through their academic journey in the campus. "Teachers talk freely to every student independently to encourage them to win the life and thus to mould true citizens. We also arrange counseling sessions for the benefit of students," says Dr. Sebastian. By the end of this year, first batch of LL.B students will be marching out of the portals of Nehru Academy of law. Dr. Sebastian adds, "We are proud that they are our first brand ambassador. Now, we are on research to find new means and methods in innovative teaching and make study of law as a pleasure and not a pain."

Today, Nehru Academy of Law strives to develop the innate qualities of the student and promote both academic excellent and non-academic activities. "The college intends to develop itself into a true temple of knowledge, which aims more at social outreach, public exposure and carve out law students with professional skill sets, competence and quality. We are striving to equip the students for the increasingly diversified practices of law making them proficient and sound," concludes Dr. Sebastian.