Exams Scandal rocks Ghana School of Law

Confusion is reported to have broken out at the Ghana School of Law following the passing of 27 students who were part of 55 students who failed their final examination papers in Law of Interpretation.

The Chronicle investigation has revealed that examination papers of the 27 students were remarked by a Retired Supreme Court Judge, Prof. Justice A.K.P Kludze, without resort to the lecturers of the subject or any marking scheme.

A source at the school told The Chronicle that re-marking of examination papers of the alleged students was done contrary to laid down examination procedures of the school.

The procedure, according to the source, is that a petitioner must submit an individual petition and pay appropriate fees, which would be forwarded to the board of examiners to determine its merit. The source said if the Board of Examiners find the petition meritorious, they would then decide on the appropriate person to do the re-marking of the said script.

Delving deep into the scandal, it came to light that there was only one petition filed by a candidate with index number 159, with signatures of the other students appended to it in the form of a resolution.

According to the source, the petition was not forwarded to the Board of Examiners or the lecturers of the said subject, but the Director, Mr. George Agyeman Sarpong unilaterally decided who to re-mark it.

The Chronicle learnt that a supplementary list is being prepared to be presented to the General Legal Council (GLC), which would hold a meeting on 25th September 2009 for approval for the 27 students to be called to the Bar on the 2nd of October, 2009.

Owing to this development at the only Premier Law school, majority of the lecturers have decided to boycott the call to the bar ceremony, while others are threatening to resign if the anomaly was not corrected.

It would be recalled that in 2004, the same lecturer was asked to re-mark the script of a candidate who had failed Family Law examination, without consulting the lecturer of the said paper or any marking scheme, which was among the issues brought before the Akamba Committee.

The Registrar of the Law School, Nana Owusu Fredua Agyeman told The Chronicle when contacted that the case had been brought before the General Legal Council (GLC). He explained that GLC has the final authority as well as the body responsible for the publishing of results. When the paper contacted a lecturer at the school, Mr. Opoku Agyemang, he would neither confirm nor deny the story.

He however said if the case is brought before the legal council, it would be amicably resolved. (Stay tune for more revelations as they unfold)