when did it become breaking a rule to chose Law? When did it become incorrect to have too many lawyers? What is all this irony of passing through the flood Gates and shutting same to others? How can you set a pass mark and at the same time cap numbers? What if all who sat for the entrance exam pass??? Please stop the madness!!! Mr. Judge, Lordships and ladyships stop the madness!!! Legal education as it stands is not accessible. Where would you have been if same standards were upheld against you???
Thousands of students enrol in universities and colleges each academic year with the hope to pursue their dreams and aspirations. While many are satisfied with where they find themselves, others have dashed hopes because there seems to be darkness at the end of the tunnel instead of light. by the time you're done reading this article, you'd discover what I mean.
Many lawmakers, politicians and legal practitioners have risen to protect their profession so to speak. They say, for example, that we would not open the flood gates and many would have wished. According to them, one mistake could lead to the deprivation of someone's freedoms and rights and so we cannot allow any "efulefu" to enter law school. That must be passion right??? not exactly, some have argued that opening the flood gates is not synonymous with lowering the standards and indeed opening the flood gates is what the constitution was talking about when it said, there must be universal access to education.
For so many years, people have fought to enter the school of law to no avail and while the well to do fly their children outside the country, the ordinary Ghanaian can only hope and keep hoping. Maybe someday somehow, grace would locate them.
At this point, let's tackle the merits of their case;
If the wrong person becomes a lawyer, people may lose their rights and freedoms and rot in jail.
Even now that the right people are lawyers, we keep seeing and hearing wrongful convictions here and there. it is not the opening of the flood gates that would solve that problem. Shatta Wale in recent Jail Man acknowledged that "so many young boys dey for remand". Ghana has a huge deficit of lawyers but the CJ say he would not allow mass production of lawyers.
Isolated cases of miscarriage of justice can not be misconstrued to be because of inefficiencies in the law school but rather, occupational hazards that occur every once in a while. No one should suggest that the tendency of these occupational hazards to occur and the consequences that could follow suit makes legal Education superior to others.
In any case, who says anyone who goes to the law school wants to end up in court? it is most unfortunate that people would assume that the fact that many want to be in law school means that, they all want to be lawyers.
If there are many lawyers, the law of natural selection would set in and only those that are competent would have the privilege to defend others. We all agree that competition brings out the best in people don't we? don't let us disagree on this premise only because we're talking about legal education.
Mass production eliminates quality
Many would describe this assertion as the biggest joke of the century!!!
Did mass production of doctors in Cuba reduce the quality of doctors churned out???
We can all agree that standards must be set. But standards must be attainable!!! Standards must be precise!!! standards must be transparent and finally, standards must be communicated to all candidates before entrance examinations are conducted.
There is no space to accommodate everyone!!!
the issue of space is dead on arrival and it's no joke. The issue of space only arises when you deliberately refuse to decentralize. Many universities in Ghana have the space to accommodate students and if you chose not to contract them, then you must stop asking questions about lack of space.
Law is not any other profession
Really??? Law is not like any other profession!!!
let's set the records straight,
Law is not better than medicine
Law is not better than Accounting
Law is not better than engineering
Law is not better than Journalism
Law is Law!!! it is not better than any other profession!!!
If you have a bad finance minister, many would die out of hunger because they cannot afford food. that's worse than getting the wrong person in jail!!!
If you have a bad doctor, you'd be wrongly diagnosed, given the wrong prescription and eventually, you'd die.
These arguments we're hearing can be advanced by any profession.
3na Law school is this, Law school is that.
Conclusion and Recommendation
No one is calling for unregulated and unstandardized Legal Education. Any one who thinks that's what we're fighting for, is certainly a minority of one. It is most unfair to keep thousands of graduates at home because you don't want to compromise on quality. There's no trade-off between the numbers and quality. I believe that Both can be achieved.
It is my hope that Policy makers find a lasting solution to this law school bruhaha.
Expand the law school
Give accreditation to universities
Conduct a competitive examination
---Alem---
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