A US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Professor Kwaku Asare, says the latest law school entrance results falls short of the quest to have all qualified law degree holders access to the school, although, the latest results is an improvement.
Speaking in an interview, Professor Kwaku Asare, who has been one of the lead advocates for an increase in admissions into the Ghana law school called for an investigation into the significant rates in the passes, saying, he suspects the system is being manipulated.
He said although the results appears to be better than last year, it still significantly short of the goal to allow anyone with a law degree be given the opportunity to take the qualifying certificate of examination.
“Furthermore, several questions are raised by the results this year. First and formest how did the percentage go from 7% to a little under 40%? That is a change that must be probed because it appears to me that last year something happened such that not even 10% of the students could pass, and this year, after some clamoring, all of a sudden we are told that less than 40% percent passed, so we need to probe that.
“It appears to me that the system is being manipulated to make up the numbers because there is no reason why one cohort of students would be so significantly better than the others or worse than the others. It seems to me somebody is just there and then giving the numbers, that should stop because we are talking about the future of young people.”
Professor Asare added that, the authorities are allowing people who have just been voted for to influence their lives in a significantly negative way, adding that, it is very disturbing and must stop.
Over one thousand students passed this year’s School of Law entrance exams marking a significant departure from what the pass rate has been in recent times.
Unlike the previous year when only twenty-eight students passed out of 1,820, this year saw 1,045 passes, out of a total of 2,720 in the just released results.
The rate of failure in the entrance exams became a matter of national discussion, prompting a promise of reforms in law education by the NDC flagbearer former President John Mahama.
In 2019, over 90 per cent of students who sat for entrance examination failed to make the cut for admission. Results showed that, out of the 1,820 candidates who sat for the entrance exams, only 128, representing 7 per cent passed.
A similar failure in the Ghana Bar exams happened few months ago, when more than 90 per cent of the 727 students who wrote that exams failed, sparking agitation amongst the students.
The affected persons marched to parliament where they presented a petition to have the General Legal Council address what they termed as a “systemic problem” at the School of Law.
Key among their concerns were the mass failure, the fees charged for resit and remarking, as well as the policy of rewriting all papers if a student fails more than 3 papers.
