Ghanaian lawyer based in the US, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, says he has filed a Right To Information (RTI) request directed at the Ghana School of Law to release the raw scores of candidates who took the entrance exams.

Some 2,820 candidates drawn from various law faculties within the country sat for the 2021 Ghana School of Law Entrance exams with only 790 candidates meeting the required pass mark.

This means 2,030 students failed and will not be admitted into the Ghana School of Law.

The Ghana School of Law remains the monopoly in terms of professional legal training in Ghana. After securing an LLB from an accredited University, students who wish to practice law in Ghana must proceed to the school of Law.

The school has limited space, with campuses in Makola, Greenhill and Kumasi.

There have been calls for this monopoly to be broken with some calling on the faculties themselves to administer the professional training for students.

Those against these proposals, including former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, have argued this will open the floodgates and may lead to the training of substandard lawyers.

Professor Asare has been on a crusade to get the Ghana School of Law to release the full results of the candidates in the interest of accountability.

He has also spoken against the waiver signed by candidates to forfeit the right to request for a remarking. Candidates who take the entrance exams to the Ghana School of Law cannot request a remarking of their script under the arrangements for the exams.

An arrangement some watchers have described as unfair and even unconstitutional.

Writing on his Facebook page, Professor Kwaku Asare said he had studied the scores of the candidates who passed the exams and has noted an anomaly based on the scored recorded.

He is therefore requesting the raw scores of all candidates who took the 2021 entrance examinations and their specific scores in the various parts of the exams.

According to Professor Asare, he is not interested in the names of the candidates or even their index numbers but that as a researcher, he has a valid interest in the grading accuracy of the entrance exams.

He has however served notice that, if upon receipt of the information, it is found out that some candidates may have obtained the pass mark yet were not admitted, he will call on the Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute those involved.

Find his full Facebook post below.

The entrance exam had two parts. Part 1 was 20 questions Multiple choice worth 40 points. Part 2 had 2 essays each worth 30 points for a total of 60 points.

I studied the scores of the 790 candidates that were released. I found that all the candidates scored 30 points or higher on part 2. They then scored enough on the multiple-choice to get them 50 or higher.

This then means that none of the 2,820 candidates who took the exam got less than 30 points on part 2 and made the so-called “pass list”.

This, of course, can happen but the chances of observing such a score profile in an exam taken by 2,820 are rare indeed.

We have to believe that no candidate got, as one example, 26 out of 60 on part 2 and 24 on part 1 to get an overall score of 50.

Anyway, for the avoidance of doubt and in the public interest, I have today filed an RTI to the GSL to release all the raw scores immediately.

As I note in the request, I demand raw scores of all candidates who took the 2021 entrance examination, broken down by
scores on the (1) Multiple Choice Questions, Multiple Choice Questions x 2, Essay Question Question 1, Essay Question 2 and Total of ((Multiple Choice Question x 2) + Essay Question 1 + Essay Question 2).

I do not seek the candidates’ names or index numbers. Just a raw score of all candidates.

I am a researcher and have a legitimate interest in the validity, reliability, and grading accuracy of the entrance examination.

I have no interest in which candidate had
a particular score; my interest is in just seeing all 2,820 raw scores to assess the entrance examination.

It is also in the public interest to release this information to avoid rumormongering.

If the raw scores are released and we find candidates who obtained 50 or more and have been omitted from the “pass list,” I will call on the Special Prosecutor to investigate the matter and prosecute all those involved in any such abuse of their public office.

What is being hidden? Release the scores now!

SALL is the cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament.

Da Yie!