Parliament has passed a resolution directing the General Legal Council (GLC) to admit all candidates who passed the Ghana School of Law entrance examination in accordance with the advertised rules.
However, there are arguments that the directive has no binding effect as the Legislature cannot compel the GLC to admit students.
Some 499 students were denied admission into the Ghana School of Law despite making the 50 percent advertised pass mark.
Now Parliament by the resolution, has directed the Attorney-General as the Minister responsible for Justice to ensure the Resolution is carried through for the students to be admitted.
The House took the position that the GLC cannot vary its advertised minimum pass mark after the examination has been conducted at the detriment of those who made the minimum pass mark.
The resolution followed an application to the Speaker of Parliament by members led by Deputy Majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin who raised the matter on the floor of Parliament on Friday.
The Deputy Majority Leader described as repugnant decision by the law school to deny the 499 students entry using a new ‘sectionalized passing grade’ instead of the overall 50% advertised in the media.
This scheme, he said, lacks certainty and the GLC cannot create all manner of questionable schemes around how it marks scripts and determine those who have passed and those who have failed.
“Mr. Speaker, just as politicians when we get in the wrong they tell us, we are telling Ghana Law School that they continuously frustrate students. You’re making the study of law unattractive.
“Ghana Law School and the General Legal Counsel must take the views of this Parliament serious by quickly taking steps to remedy the situation. This is Parliament, the voice of the people and the people’s representatives are saying that if the GLC said pass is 50% all those who made the 50% and above, it is not too late to admit them because they have passed,” he stressed, adding that all questions about schemes and sections A and B are untenable.
Minority Chief Whip Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka who supported the Deputy Majority Leader’s submissions, argued that the GLC cannot continue to maintain a very consecutive position that denies many the opportunity to study law.
He contended that a pronouncement by the former Chief Justice that the law school will not be opened up for anybody is a very poor call because the ‘so-called anybody’ is also Ghanaian and the son or daughter of Ghanaian citizens.
“It is not only the sons of lawyers, and doctors or politicians and the influential that have the rights to be able to have access to any profession in this country”, the Majority Whip added.
Training a doctor, he argued, is more critical than training a lawyer because they deal directly with human lives and yet avenues have been created for more doctors to be trained by various institutions in Ghana including private institutions with many using virtual classrooms and yet the law school continue to demand students to be physically present in school.
“I know you call yourselves learned but I don’t see anything extraordinary about learning to become a lawyer. I don’t see it.
“It’s not more difficult than becoming an engineer; it is not more difficult than becoming an accountant; it is not more difficult than becoming a pharmacist and it is not more difficult than becoming a teacher,” he stressed.
The House unanimously held the view that the law school is using its monopoly in the country to crush the dreams of many Ghanaians who wish to pursue professional law courses.
Petition
The National Association of Law Students (NALS) earlier this month presented a petition on the aggrieved 499 law students who did not gain admission despite scoring more than the usual 50% pass mark in the 2021 Ghana School of Law entrance exam.
The petition, among other things, pleaded with Parliament to intervene and ask the GLC and the Management of the law school to immediately reverse their decision and admit the students.
Leaders of the Association who were dissatisfied with the last-minute changes in the overall scoring marks for admission after the students have already finished writing their exams, pleaded with the leadership of the House to act fast to prevent further actions from the aggrieved students.
