GSL mass failure: Adopt triple-track learning system- Lecturer
And if we had developed the infrastructure maybe at the Law Village for example which can take 1,500 students on its own, and you add Kumasi campus, then it means we may have more space than even those who are going to write the exams.
A Senior Lecturer and former Acting Director of the Ghana School of Law, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang has suggested a triple-track system of learning to the managers of the Ghana School of Law, to enable it to admit more students.
According to him, the perennial mass failure of candidates who write the Ghana School of Law entrance exams will be a thing of the past, if this system is implemented.
Further to the above, he proposed for qualified law faculties to be certified to teach professional legal studies.
“Last year we practiced the triple-track system and we took 1,045 students, so even if the backlog was, 2,000 students, with 1,045 admissions, we reduced the backlog to the 1,000 plus and this year luckily if they had gone with that rule, and had admitted 1,299, the backlog would have been less than 1,000 and therefore if we had continued in that tangent, by two to three years, there would be no backlog,” he noted.
Speaking on the Townhall Talk show with Kofi Abotsi on Asaase FM on Friday, October 15, 2021, Mr.Opoku Agyemang he intimated that the development of the Law Village alone can enable the GSL to have about 1500 admission space together with a Kumasi Campus, will create more space to deal with the perennial law school admission issue.
“And if we had developed the infrastructure maybe at the Law Village for example which can take 1,500 students on its own, and you add Kumasi campus, then it means we may have more space than even those who are going to write the exams. So that is one way,” he indicated.
On the certification of faculties, the law lecturer suggested that law faculties with facilities be considered and accreditation for professional studies given to them. However, he was cautious in expressing this point because according to him, except one or two faculties, a recent evaluation revealed that most faculties are into the practice of using names of famous and revered lecturers to get accreditation yet the actual names of those lecturers are missing on the accreditation paper.
“The other way is, the authority which gives the power to accredit, I am of the view that maybe we look at the law faculties that have the facilities and lecturers for the professional studies to be accredited but in doing so, I am very cautious because recently we looked at the evaluation and monitoring reports for the various faculties and I must say, with the exception of one or two faculties, most use names of famous and revered lecturers to get accreditation but the actual lecturers are not those listed on the accreditation paper and that is a problem,” he indicated.
In conclusion, Mr. Opoku Agyemang rejected claims that there is a deliberate attempt by the General Legal Council to rigidly regulate and determine the specific number of lawyers called to the Ghana Bar but indicated that the number of students admitted is rather affected by law school budgetary decisions.
