Akufo-Addo’s lack of space at law school remark disappointing – Aggrieved candidate
Hassan Asare, one of the aggrieved School of Law entrance exam candidates, has said President Nana Akufo-Addo’s comments on the lack of space to admit more law students give credence to fears that the Ghana Legal Council admits a set number of students.
Describing the comment as disappointing, Mr. Asare said: “It only affirms our position that the [Ghana School of Law entrance] exam is a sham because people pass and the only reason for not taking them is because you don’t have space. That is quite sad”.
He was unhappy that despite promising to reform legal education in its 2020 manifesto, the Akufo-Addo government had reneged on its promise.
“It is a sad position, but unfortunately, we have to swallow it,” Mr. Asare said on Eyewitness News.
But he maintained that the problem with legal education in Ghana is not the students but the institution.
Mr. Asare said the General Legal Council would be better served to admit candidates based on the number of spaces available instead of a pass mark.
“Don’t put in a mark. Leave it open so that all Ghanaians will know your space is 790. Don’t come and lie to us that you have space for over 2,000 people,” he said.
The 2021 Ghana School of Law Entrance exams saw only 790 out of the 2,824 candidates pass to gain admission into the professional school.
The National Association of Law Students and some LLB graduates who were denied entry into the Ghana School of Law despite making the pass mark demonstrated in Accra on Wednesday, October 20, 2021.
They subsequently petitioned Parliament over their grievances.
Ordinarily, admission to the Ghana School of Law for professional legal education requires that successful candidates obtain a minimum rank of 50 percent during an entrance exam organised by the General Legal Council.
But in the 2020 entrance exam, students who made the pass mark but had less than 50 percent in one of the two sections were denied entrance to the School of Law.
