The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has hinted that 800 law students would be admitted in 2022
President of NALS, Asare Hassan, says it a “big concern”
The National Association of Law Students (NALS) has expressed concerns over comments made by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, regarding next year’s admission into the Ghana School of Law.
The finance minister as reported by modernghana.com stated that: “In 2022, the Ghana School of Law expects to conduct entrance examinations for 2,500 applicants and anticipates to admit 800 students into the Ghana School of Law while 700 students are expected to be called to the Bar.”
But the President of NALS, Asare Hassan, in an interview with GhanaWeb, stated that the minister’s suggestion was a “big concern” considering the fact that the fate of the 499 aggrieved law students is yet to be determined.
“If you listen to the budget a provision of about 800 students will pass for 2022. You have about 2,500 [an estimated number] students writing the exams and you are saying that only 800 are going to pass, basically you are making provision for 800. What happens if for whatever reasons a double of that number pass the exams so it’s a bit of a concern. If we decide that the 800 are going to pass…if the 499 are going to be given space next year, would that affect or is that inclusive [of the 800 students]?. So if we decided that they are part of the 800 then it means that we have space for only about 300. But in any case, even beyond that the 499 what if a double of 800 pass? Then it means we are finding a way to limit the space which is a big concern,” he argued.
Asare Hassan further added that the only way to resolve law school admission brouhaha is to push through with a private member’s bill which is currently before parliament.
The bill seeks to amongst other things remove the Chief Justice as a member of the General Legal Council (GLC).
“GLC says it is looking at accrediting other faculties to run the professional law course and the private members bill also seeks to do same. Then we need to look at enforcing the private members bill by using it to either amend or come out with a new Legislative instrument to resolve this problem once and for all. We cannot be going two steps forward and one step back. That is unacceptable,” he said.
The law student’s admissions are part of the many issues that come up annually concerning the Ghana School of Law.
In 2021 only 790 out of 2,824 who sat for the entrance exams passed.
However, 499 aggrieved law students’ insisted they had passed but were failed after the GLC introduced a new grading system without their knowledge.
After several back and forth including staging a demonstration against stakeholders, the GLC has agreed to admit them.
The Ghana School of Law is the only school that offers professional legal education