Boycott Law School over recurring mass failures -Prof Kwaku Azar

Lawyer and Professor of Accounting, Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has criticised the examining body responsible for the Ghana Law School entrance examination for demonstrating a lack of understanding of how examinations are evaluated and interpreted following the mass failure recorded this year.

The public intellectual thinks that regulators of legal education in Ghana “are completely uninformed about the concept of curving an exam and, therefore, have no business being in the business of interpreting examination scores,” urging all students to boycott the Ghana Law School and all Law Faculties until the anomaly is corrected.

“When you take a look at the exam scores, you realize that the problem is mechanically applying 50% as the passing score on an exam where 93% scored less than 50%.

The problem then is not that only 128 out of 1820 passed. The problem is that the regulators are completely uninformed about the concept of curving an exam and, therefore, have no business being in the business of interpreting examination scores,” he explained in a social media post.

Prof Asare notes that given that the highest score in the recently held examination was 65, a proper analysis of it will show that all the students passed the exam, or have shown that they are capable of continuing their legal education.

He finds the exam needless and non-diagnostic, insisting that the technical proficiency of the students can be established using their LLB degrees.

“I will dismiss any regulators and dissolve the regulatory body that deliberated and concluded that it is reasonable to have this 128/1820. They lack the technical proficiency needed to do the work that they are paid to.

All students should boycott the GSL and all Law Faculties until this anomaly is corrected…," he concludes.

In the 2019, Ghana School of Law entrance examination, only 128 out 1820 passed, prompting many to criticise the regulators for deliberately failing students pointlessly. But the Chief Justice has always maintained that she will not superintend over the mass production of lawyers.

The General Legal Council headed by the Chief Justice is the body responsible for legal education in Ghana. Many have called for its dissolution and replacement with a much more progressive body that will ensure that legal education is much more available to Ghanaians.

Full Post of Prof Asare below:

When you take a look at the exam scores, you realize that the problem is mechanically applying 50% as the passing score on an exam where 93% scored less than 50%.

The problem then is not that only 128 out of 1820 passed. The problem is that the regulators are completely uninformed about the concept of curving an exam and, therefore, have no business being in the business of interpreting examination scores.

As the highest score is 65, use the simple curve of adding 35 to that score and to all the scores. This simple curve will show that all the students exceed the 50% threshold or demonstrated the technical proficiency needed to continue with their legal education.

That outcome, of course, should not come as a surprise as the students have the LLB. In fact, the exam is superfluous and that technical proficiency should have been inferred from the possession of their degrees.

As it is, someone who scored 49.5% is deemed to lack the technical proficiency to continue with her legal education and must find something else to do or hang around for one more year to write the same non-diagnostic exam. It is hard to find something more senseless than this.

I will dismiss any regulators and dissolve the regulatory body that deliberated and concluded that it is reasonable to have this 128/1820. They lack the technical proficiency needed to do the work that they are paid to.

All students should boycott the GSL and all Law Faculties until this anomaly is corrected.

Da Yie!