Bar Exam fee has been reduced

One of the heated topics late into 2021 on Maldivian media was the fee law students have to pay in order to sit for their bar exam. While the Maldives was set to host the country's first bar exam in June 2021, several issues caused the bar exam to be postponed to November of 2022. While some were relieved about the postponement, others were not so happy after the nerve-wracking months and weeks of studying and preparing for one of the biggest exams of their life.

However, it was not the postponement that caught people's attention as law students took to Twitter following the announcements regarding the first ever bar exam to be hosted in the Maldives, it was the shocking fee that came with it. 

Initially, when the bar council announced the bar exam fee it was a whopping MVR 20,000. An amount that a majority of Maldivians do not even make as a monthly salary, let alone pay that much for an exam fee. However, this fee was later cut in half and the bar exam fee was set to be MVR 10,000. While it is a major reduction compared to the initial amount, it was still extremely unaffordable for the majority, especially considering how hard the bar exams are and how often people take the exam a few times before passing it. It is impossible to imagine in a country where wages are already so low, for someone to have to pay MVR 10,000 to sit for an exam.

After much debate regarding the extremely high fee of MVR 10,000 that students needed to pay, the topic seemed to have died down as the exam got postponed. During this time, however, many noted that such high fees make it extremely hard for lower-paid citizens to successfully become lawyers and that these high fees are discrimination of sorts as it gives better chances for people with more money to become successful as lawyers.

While this topic died down for many, it appears that the Bar Council of the Maldives (BCM) did take some points into consideration as of August 21 2022 they announced that the fee has been revised to MVR 6,500. 

In addition to revising the fee, the Bar Council also took note of the struggles lawyers outside Male' would have to go through in order to sit for the exam if the venue was based in Male’ - as many expressed their concerns. Following these concerns, the council's executive committee has also decided to hold the exam in multiple venues, which are yet to be announced.  

With the exam now set to take place on November 19, 2022, and with reduced fees and venues accessible to islanders, there is hope that more aspiring lawyers will take the bar exam than there were during the first registration process.