MP worried over backlog of students seeking School of Law admission

The Chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Ben Abdallah, has said the backlog of qualified persons struggling to get into the Ghana School of Law is a potential security threat.

Speaking at a CDD Ghana roundtable discussion on the draft Legal Profession Amendment Bill 2018, Ben Abdallah said his committee is helpless on the matter, but called for concerted effort to reform the Ghana School of Law.

How do we deal with the backlog of students who are yearning to enter the Law School? That is a recipe for disaster. It is a near national security issue but our hands are tied.”

The legislator reminded that a “holistic review of the course structure” was needed.

“Now everything is being digitized. We are in the information technology era. More crimes are committed online than offline. Have we considered introducing maybe internet law in our course structure?”

The Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Law Faculty, Professor Ebow Bondzi-Simpson recently voiced similar concerns and joined calls for the reform of professional legal education.

In lamenting about the entry requirements into the Ghana School of Law during his address to the 2019 Graduating Law Class at GIMPA, he said it is not satisfactory and unsustainable.

“The number of persons required to service our legal sector is way in excess of the capacity of the Ghana school of law with its satellite campuses. If the Ghana school of law is not presently able to handle the numbers, the Ghana Legal Council can partner with and accredit some law schools to offer the delivery of professional legal education.”

There have been calls for an overhaul of the legal education system to address these concerns.

The handling of examinations in the school has also been a point of contention.

Agitations from the Students Representative Council of the School prompted the setting up of a Committee by the General Legal Council to probe mass exams failure at the Ghana School of Law and also oversee reforms.

The committee has made a call for input from the public as it carries out its mandate.