Legal education in Ghana needs complete overhaul – Prof. Azar

US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Stephen Kwaku Asare says more reforms are needed to promote legal education of Ghana.

Prof. Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar said the increased access granted to people who wrote the Ghana School of Law entrance exams, is not enough to enhance legal education in Ghana.

This year, a record number of over 1,000 people were admitted to the School of Law after only 128 passed the exam in 2019.

But delivering the keynote address at a commemorative public lecture organized by the National Association of Law School, Prof. Azar said the entire professional law school system must be overhauled to enable more people to access legal education in the country.

“Anybody at all who has a law degree should be given the opportunity to demonstrate proficiency by being allowed to take an exam and if they pass the exam then you call them [to the bar]. I’m not sure why people think it is funny that we sack young people from pursuing their dreams. They can do it in Rwanda, UK, Nigeria, Gambia, Kenya and so why should we punish people because they are Ghanaians?” he said.

Meanwhile, the SRC President-elect of the Ghana School of Law, Philemon Saar has also called for more reforms.

“This is victory but it doesn’t necessarily mean that is the end of reforms. We still hold on to our position that the legal education we have in this country needs serious reforms, reforms that will allow broad access for people,” he said.

School of law controversies

A total of 1,045 students out of 2,763 have passed the 2020 entrance examination to the Ghana School of Law.

The development marks a significant turn in legal education in Ghana especially as it comes after massive calls and protests for major reforms in the country’s legal education system.

The 2019 Ghana School of Law entrance exams saw only 128 candidates out of a total of 1,820 passing.

Some protesters marched to Parliament last year and presented a petition to the House to ensure that the General Legal Council addresses the problems they say deliberately restricts people from gaining access to legal education.