SC moves Bar exams to Jan.-Feb. 2022
THE Supreme Court en banc on Tuesday decided to move the Bar examinations scheduled this November to January 16 to February 6, 2022.
“After considering the COVID-19 situation nationally and in all the testing sites, as well as receiving advice from various experts, the Supreme Court, after recommendation by the Bar Chairperson, with an abundance of caution and to ensure the highest level of safety for all the Bar applicants and personnel, decided to reset the Bar examinations from November 2021to January 16, 23, 30, and February 6, 2022.
The application period will not be reopened. ” Bar Bulletin No. 28, S. 2021.
Recently, the SC bared that there will be no announcement of topnotchers in the 2020-2021 Bar examinations.
The high court will instead recognize examinees who got an 85 % or higher weighted score for “exemplary performance.”
This was a departure from SC tradition of announcing bar topnotchers with the release of the list of passers.
“The names of examinees who earned recognition for exemplary performance shall be made publicly available simultaneously with the list of passers, through the same media. Apart from this, no fanfare shall be devoted in releasing information on examinees who rendered exemplary performance,” said SC Justice Marvic Leonen, chairperson of the 2020-2021 Bar exams.
Furthermore, the SC will have a list of law schools ranked from the most to the least number of passers among first time examinees, and a separate list ranked from those with the most to the least number of examinees recognized for exemplary performance.
“It is hoped that by shifting the focus away from how select individuals excel and onto a school’s collective performance, this will encourage deep-seated and wide-ranging improvements in legal education,” he said.
He stressed however that changes during 2020-2021 Bar examinations was adopted pro hac vice (for or on this occasion only).
Leonen said “these are designed to enable a more equitable approach to appraising and reporting on Bar examination performance.”
“Similarly, the modifications were adopted to initiate reforms that address the debilities and inequities arising from traditional, competitive mechanisms, as well as the false tendency to associate Bar Examination performance with overall legal acumen and even future professional success,” he added.
