No conspiracies in law school exams, reforms necessary – Nana Addo

President Akufo-Addo has said that the alarming failure of students in the law school exams could be as a result of the students’ non-adherence to examination instructions.

Although he admitted that resources for more legal training is low, he said assertion that the high rate of failure is a deliberate attempt to cut down on the the number of lawyers produced in the country is baseless.

The Ghana School of Law has over the years seen majority of its students recording poor results in the bar exams.

This year for instance, only nine percent of the students who sat for the exams passed their papers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Q164cORmaVzG3XXWj5UApsxXBAYcvuJK”]This situation has left lecturers, including Justices of the Supreme and Appeals Courts, together with some seasoned lawyers livid over what has been described as the worst Bar exam results recorded in the history of the school.

But addressing the leaders of the Ghana Bar Association at a meeting at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, the president  dismissed claims of grade manipulation by a section of the Ghanaian public who insist that there appears to be a cabal working to ensure that majority of the students do not pass the exams.

“So there is pressure on limited resources but it is difficult for people to understand. There is a sense that there are conspiracies to deny some people access. I think all of us have a big responsibility to put the facts out so that people in Ghana can understand that there are no conspiracies and that the results when they come out are perhaps failures of instructions of the pupils themselves and not necessarily because there is some sinister manipulation of the system.”

Nana Addo however indicated that the crucial role of lawyers in the socio-economic development of the country, cannot be taken for granted, hence he will use all means available to him to reverse this worrying trend.

“Part of the problem is the expectations. Despite all the attempts to vilify us, the profession is a popular one. People want to be lawyers because it’s an attractive profession and I take that as a compliment because they see the work of lawyers as valuable in terms of its contribution to social output. But we need to find the solution that will allow for continuity and peace in a manner that the results come”, he added.

Our government can’t fail in addressing the situation

In furtherance, the President hinted of discussions with the Chief Justice to find a lasting solution to avert future mass failures in the Bar exams.

According to him, his government cannot fault to address the situation because it is ‘lucky’ to have renowned lawyers as heads of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

“I’ve told the Chief Justice that we have to find a solution to the [law school exams results]. We are in a situation whereby three of the four principal officers of state are all lawyers. If in our time, the three arms of government are headed by lawyers, we are unable to find solution to problems of our profession, for me it will be a failure. This is something I have engaged myself with and I am waiting for the suggestions that will come from her but clearly we need to do something about it. She has very good ideas, let’s wait that between her and you which find a panacea to these issues.”

Law students not to blame for mass exams failure – Fmr. SRC executive

Meanwhile, an immediate past executive of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law, Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, has said the high number of failures recorded in the final exams for students of the school is not the result of a lack of preparedness on the part of the students.

He said, the students put a great deal of work into their studies, even before getting into Law School and hence, cannot be accused of a lack of effort.

“There are many things that can account for this. None of them is the inability for students to actually study or to actually take a test. Getting into the school of law itself is hectic enough. I see people studying day in day out. People get to the school at 10 am and leave school at 5 am the next day. It can’t be because of the students” , he said.

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By: Nii Larte Lartey | citinewsroom.com |Ghana | [email protected]