Law School Brouhaha: Parliamentary Committee endorses entrance exams

The Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament has approved the controversial General Legal Council LI seeking to regulate admissions into the law school.

The decision was taken after the committee met with the Attorney General Tuesday over the petition from law students demanding the withdrawal of the bill.

The move comes in the wake of the mass failure of law students who sat for the bar exams last year.

91 students out of the 474 who sat the exams passed to be called to the bar. A total of 206 law students are to repeat the entire course whilst another 177 students have been referred in one or two papers.

Meanwhile, the Students Representative Council of the Ghana School of Law has called for a remarking of the papers.

At a press conference last week, President of the student lawyers, Sammy Gyamfi, told the media and his colleagues, who were clad in red, that he and his executives will ensure that the Independent Examination Body which conducts examination for the School of law is scrapped.

Chairman of the committee Mahama Ayariga told the media entrance examination is needed in the immediate term to regulate admissions at the School of Law.

“There is a cabinet bill which will be brought to parliament amending the parent legislation which is act 32. That then provides us the platform to discuss the broader reforms of legal education in the country. This LI as you have known by now is responding to the decision of the Supreme Court that they must have an amendment approved by Parliament of the LI 12 (96) which permits them to conduct examinations as an entry requirement into Law School. So based on that the members of the committee were then satisfied that in the immediate term we need to then have approval to conduct examinations.

“If you recalled the committee rejected the use of interview, but the committee thinks that the parent Act, Act 32 makes provision for preliminary, intermediate and final examinations. So the power to conduct examination is in the parent act, act 32,” he said.