Deputy Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has petitioned Parliament to order the General Legal Council to submit raw scores of their recent Entrance Examination to the House committee for purposes of review.
The MP noted that the committee, which has oversight responsibility over Legal Education in Ghana is best placed to investigate this matter.
Citing the recent 28% pass in this year’s admissions into the Ghana School of Law, Mr Sosu bemoaned the mass failures and low intake of students.
He described the situation as a systemic failure needing urgent attention.
“Following recent reports of mass failure in the Law School Entrance Exams and related outcry from the general public, I wish to petition your High Office to Order the General Legal Council to submit raw scores of their recent Entrance Examination to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee for verification and review of scores”, a statement sited by angelonline.com.gh read.
The statement added additional statistics as follows: “in 2017, more than eighty (80) percent of students were said to have failed, as only 91 out of the over 500 candidates passed. In 2018, only nine (9) percent of the students who sat the law exam were said to have passed. In 2019, only 128 out of 1,820 candidates who sat for the entrance exams passed, representing 7%”.
Again, a paltry 549 Lawyers were enrolled after entrance exams were conducted for 2,701 applicants out of which 1,045 passed as captured in the 2021 budget report.
Quoting Article 37(1) of the 1992 Constitution, the human rights activist reminded Parliament of the state’s responsibility to secure and protect a social order founded on the ideals and principles of freedom, equality, justice, probity and accountability as enshrined in Chapter 5 of the same Constitution.
Francis-Xavier Sosu stressed the “need for investigations to ascertain whether or not the pass rates and scores are based on actual performance of students during examinations, or as a result of lack of available infrastructure to accommodate the excess numbers, hence this petition”.
