However, the Coalition insists that despite this setback, it can get most Members of Parliament (MP) to vote against the Regulations.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OOBdiOATCKzrq0z0bMprwDp8PFZjnTmw”]A lead campaigner for the reforms, Kofi Bentil, told Citi News that the Committee has lost an opportunity to initiate a necessary restructuring of the country’s legal education system.

The Subsidiary Legislation Committee on Tuesday shot down a petition by the Concerned Law Students for the examinations conducted for admission into the school to be scrapped.

The Committee however recommended that the Ghana Legal Council not be allowed to conduct interviews for entrants into the Ghana School of Law.

But Kofi Bentil, who is also the lawyer for the Concerned Law students, said the turn of events is unfortunate.

“I am disappointed because in one of the sessions of Parliament the chairman showed clearly that he understood our point and even supported it. He even had some pieces of advice for the General Legal Council. So we were hoping that they will do the right thing. We were thinking that parliament refuse to legitimize something that has been ruled as illegal… After parliament met us, we had information that they met the General Legal Council and the Attorney General separately and we weren’t invited to that meeting,” he said.

The General Legal Council had laid the proposed LI before in Parliament in mid-December 2017, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and call to the Ghana Bar.

The Regulations, among other things, state that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

But according to Kofi Bentil, the recent developments surrounding the LI before Parliament is unfair to the concerned students.

“It seems unfair that some of those things will happen. I am disappointed that our Parliament has chosen not to vote for the dreams of our young people but to support these moves which are not good for our future. I am sure that what we started will not end with this LI. If we can get more than 183 parliamentarians to go to work on that day, we will be able to overturn this thing,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘We can get C’ttee’s decision on Law School LI overturned’ – Kofi Bentil appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It is reported that more than 80% of students who wrote the examination in May 2017 failed, as only 91 out of the over 500 candidates passed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UOQTmFBxxQSRaEajXnv7GFzPYpVaWWNN”]The development comes at a time when Parliament is debating an LI brought before it by the General Legal Council (GLC); the body that oversees the legal profession and legal education in Ghana.

The LI, if endorsed by Parliament will see the legalization of entrance examination and interview processes by the GLC for prospective law students.

The GLC insists the measures will ensure only qualified persons are admitted to produce quality lawyers in the country. However, some have suggested that the recent failure makes nonsense of the processes, and emphasizes on the need for focus to be placed on restructuring the school’s curriculum.

According to the concerned students of the school, the entrance exam administered by the GLC, must be abolished in the face of the massive failure.

In a statement signed by its leader, Ken Addor Donkor, the Concerned Students said, “the quality of teaching has deteriorated, if we have to abide by the logic of the GLC that the entrance exams helps to admit quality applicants.”

It is thus calling for the resignation of all members of the General Legal Council.

Read their full statement below:

Ghana School of Law & Matters Arising:

The mass failure recorded by the GSL this year is a testament to the call that the entrance exams be abolished as it has failed to establish that it’s a pristine source of sieving the quality applicants from the ‘chaff’.

Secondly, this results demonstrate that the present curriculum as presently modified has contributed to the deteriorating nature of the supposedly ‘quality’ students that are admitted and must be scrapped and the old formulae restored.

Thirdly, the Bar results as released points to the fact that, the quality of teaching has deteriorated if, we have to abide by the logic of the GLC that the entrance exams helps to admit quality applicants.

Lastly, the results lend credence to the proposition that of some debaters that, the GLC has crafted these examinations as a cash-cow or conduit of milking both prospective students as well as candidates for the Bar exams.

It would cost the 206 students who would have to repeat the programme in excess of Ghc5.5m without any guarantee that they will sail through when next they write the Bar exams. The present school fees per year is GHS 13,500.00

#All GLC members must resign

KENN ADDOR DONKOR LEADER OF CONCERNED LAW STUDENTS

 ‘Exam results not credible’

Meanwhile, the President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law, Sammy Gyamfi has said that the results of the exam is not credible.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, he said, the leadership of the SRC does not believe the result is a true reflection of the performance of the candidates.

“There are fundamental flaws… something is fundamentally flawed with the entire process. All you are seeing is not all there is. If we go deeper into the issue and we allow independent credible professional examiners to remark the same scripts, we are very confident that more students will pass,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Students blame curriculum for massive law school exam failure appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the leader of the group, Ken Addor Donkor, qualified students gaining admission to the Laws School has nothing to do with interviews and examinations, but rather unavailability of space to absorb all the qualified students.

[contextly_sidebar id=”b7a8XesnLVVWNRrT1u86RYNQuKUZ51U2″]Speaking to Citi News, Ken Addor Donkor said the new legislative instrument (LI) which has been forwarded to Parliament by the General Legal Council, lacks the capacity to solve the current admission challenges facing the Law School, and wants government to come up with an innovative strategy to tackle the challenge.

“We are of the view that the existing LI 1296 per regulation 23, allows for an automatic admission of an already qualified law student with LLB certificate, and that should have been the law. The problem with the Ghana Law School today has to do with capacity and so we have since argued that the issue is not about examination and interviews, the issue is about the leaders thinking outside the box by creating enough asset to absorb all of these candidates or students who want to go to the school,” he said.

He strongly noted that, he does see any reason why a student who is qualified and is backed by law is denied the opportunity to enroll in the school.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expand Ghana Law School to admit more qualified students – Group appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.