Kambovski calls proposal for the bar exam in two languages reasonable

Academician Vlado Kambovski considers the Justice Ministry’s proposal for the bar exam to be taken in both languages, Macedonian and Albanian, to be rational. The comment comes after Albanian students rejected the proposal two days ago, insisting that the entire exam be held only in Albanian and warning of new protests if their demand is not met.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has taken a firm position that the oral part of the exam should continue to be held in Macedonian, considering the language the “lingua franca” of the judicial system. Meanwhile, in a statement to “Sloboden Pechat,” Kambovski emphasized that the most essential issue is the harmonization of legal terminology and curricula at law faculties. He has proposed an initiative to unify terminology and required literature.

“Under the current circumstances, this proposal appears reasonable, bearing in mind that it concerns the most sensitive areas of law, where the harmonization of legal terminology and its use in different languages is of extraordinary importance. Legal terminology in our country is not sufficiently developed and refined for all the languages required for the exam, while, on the other hand, harmonizing curricula is essential at all law faculties—not only for these two subjects, but for the others as well. For this reason, I suggested to the Minister of Justice and other colleagues that they launch an initiative under which all law faculties, regardless of the language of instruction, would have a common pool of mandatory program units, subjects corresponding to the content of the programs, as well as harmonized mandatory literature for all those subjects, whether in Macedonian, English, Albanian or another language,” Kambovski said.

According to the academician, this approach would resolve the most essential problems, not only the issue of the language of the exam. He stressed that what matters most is the quality of the practical knowledge these students will have tomorrow when they enter the judicial system and practice the legal professions, so that they can achieve the purpose of the law—justice.