Law School Exams Leak: GLC’s IEC must be dissolved

Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etsey Dafeamekpor is demanding the immediate dissolution of the Independent Examinations Committee (IEC) of the General Legal Council (GLC) following the reported leakage of Friday’s entrance examination of the Ghana School of Law.

Hours before the examination, the questions got leaked and were all over social media compelling the authorities to cancel the exams and rescheduled at a latter date.

The leakage is coming at a time Ghanaians are debating over expanding access to legal education by scrapping entrance examination and giving the mandate to the various law institutions which run the LLB program to teach the professional courses as well.

The GLC chaired by the Chief Justice has so far remained adamant to calls for reforms. To make matters worse, the Council recently came out with a proposal to make prospective students to sign an undertaking not to demand remark after the entrance examination. The Council also failed to indicate what constitutes a pass mark for admission into the School of Law.

The South Dayi MP, himself a lawyer and member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee of Parliament has been at the forefront advocating for reforms in legal education.

He is currently sponsoring a private member’s bill to among other things allow accredited law facilities to run professional courses. He also wants to see judges taken off the General Legal Council.

Read full statement below:

Press release

23rd September, 2022

LAW SCHOOL EXAMS LEAKS AGAIN: THE GLCs IEC MUST BE DISSOLVED NOW

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Hours before the Ghana Law School entrance examination was expected to take place today 23rd day of September 2022, reports contain that the paper had leaked, leading to contemplations on the part of the authorities on the way forward.

This has come within the times of wide public debates on opening up access to the Ghana School of Law given the rising interest in individuals who want to get training in the legal profession.

Following from public concerns over how entrance to the Law School is restricted through the employment of means including compelling lawyer hopefuls to sign undertakings that take off their rights, including rights not to appeal for remarking, coupled with the unpublished passing criteria, desperations remain the only means through which many individuals would undertake to gain access to legal education.

It remains a challenge that, even though this institution may not be the only institution recording leakage in examinations, it is worth reminding us of the prestige that the profession is associated with. The respect and trust the profession enjoys, remains one of the cardinal integrity worthy of protection.

It is becoming a worrying situation when these leakages are becoming regular. Just 14th July this year, the Independent Examinations Body of the General Legal Council had had to cancel the Civil Procedure paper which was scheduled to be taken on July 15, 2022.

On or about 28th July 2018, similar incidents were reported in the media of leaked entrance examination papers for the Ghana School of Law hours before the paper was scheduled to be written.

The more these instances are recorded, the more it raises questions about the body responsible for the examinations. The more also, it raises panic among students and the general public who are interested in receiving professional legal education including critics of the Council.

The General Legal Council must, as a matter of urgency, ensure to institute measures to prevent these incidents from occurring in the future. It must, as a matter of priority, ensure to institute investigations to unearth the individual(s) responsible for these incidents.

The general public needs to hold strict confidence in the legal profession even as discussions continue to dominate on easing access to professional legal education in order to provide quality and qualified legal practitioners for the various legal services that are required in this country and beyond, and for that matter, the General Legal Council through the Independent Examination body must ensure integrity in the system.

Signed:

Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq.

MP, South Dayi

Member, Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Parliament of Ghana