Law school mass failure: Students must accept responsibility for their performance – Foh-Amoaning

Law lecturer and legal practitioner, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has charged law students to be responsible for their academic performances.

He noted that failure befalls any student who fails to make the cut-off mark and blame the school for its structural changes.

“I think we need to look holistically at the whole matter and address all the things that matter but the students must also accept responsibility for their performance because whatever structural changes we make, if the pass mark is 50 and you don’t make it, you will fail,” he said.

He made these comments in an interview with Paul Adom-Otchere on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday, following the recent protest of students against the mass failure of the Ghana Law School entrance exams.

Mr Amoaning bemoaned the ‘awful’ attitude some students exhibit towards their lectures, tutorials and exams.

While lashing out at the students, the General Legal Council (GLC) was not left out. He chastised the committee for demanding a huge sum of money before remarking the exam papers.

Calling the fee being charged exorbitant and not proper, Mr Amoaning cautioned the board to be mindful in their quest to tackle the issue.

“I don’t hear the students talk about their own standards… some of their attitude to lectures, tutorials, exam, it’s just awful. Not all of them, but some of them and I think in all the arguments that they have made. Their structure problems have been admitted. Why do you tell the students not to question when you have marked the person. That’s not right, that can be corrected. Why shouldn’t they have a review of the marking if they think so? That should also be done. Why do you charge him 3000 just to remark, that’s too exorbitant because clearly, that’s not proper. These are matters that can be tackled.”

“From the standpoint of the academic staff, we have written a petition because the law school have the capacity for 550. If only 128 are coming in now, they will have a problem. Are we going to operate below capacity?

I don’t think you can use the failure of those in part one to affect those who are coming in.”

Background:

The Ghana School of Law recorded another case of mass examination failure only months after a similar one was witnessed which saw more than half of the candidates for the Bar exams failing.

This time around, the mass failure was recorded at the entrance exams.

Of the nearly 1,820 prospective students, only 128 reportedly passed the entrance examination.

Some students of the Ghana School of Law blamed the existing curriculum of the school for the massive failure in its recent examination.