Students of the Ghana School of Law who failed the recent Bar exam and have to re-write will today [Friday] appear in the Human Rights Division of the High Court to seek an extension of time to enable them adequately prepare and re-take the exam.
Seven of the about 300 students sued the General Legal Council, the Board of Legal Education, the Ghana School of Law and the Independent Examination Committee; arguing that the about ten-day period given to students to prepare and rewrite the exam; is unreasonably short and an abuse of discretion.
The students want the Court to order the General Legal Council and the other defendants to organise the exams in two months to enable them to adequately prepare and take it.
Citi News can confirm that the students ahead of the Court hearing today had been compiling signatures from affected students to impress upon the Court to place an injunction on the exams.
The exams have been scheduled to take place on Monday, but the students want it shifted.
There has been growing concern over the rate of failing law students in Ghana.
Ghana’s General Legal Council (GLC) has set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the mass failure of students at the Ghana School of Law.
More than 90% of the 727 students failed the recent bar exams earlier this year, according to results released by the GLC’s exam committee.
The Ghana School of Law is the only institution accredited in the country to train professional law students. These developments are a great source of concern because the country only has about 3,000 lawyers for a population of nearly 30 million.
According to the results released by the Independent Examinations Committee of the General Legal Council, only 64 students passed in all the papers
Students who failed three or more papers will have to revisit all 10 subjects.
