Eight law students have dragged the General Legal Council (GLC) to the Human Rights Court in Accra, to show-cause why the Council is deliberately refusing requests by the students for a remark of their ‘failed’ examination papers by an independent body.
The plaintiffs are: Akurugu Awine Thomas, Eric Narh Kofi Akwetey, Blessing Eyra Kokui Agoada, Hillary Buntugu, Godwin Kotey, Janet Afi Salakpi, Samson H.A.V. Oddoye, and Richard Amarh.
The aggrieved students, from the 2015/2016 academic year group are invoking the jurisdiction of the court by an application of judicial review for an order of mandamus for GLC to effect the remarking of examination papers deemed to have been below the pass mark.
An affidavit in support of the motion by lawyer for the plaintiffs, Francis Yeboah, explained that “the said academic year was special because the old system of professional legal education, which lasted for two years of purely classroom studies and examination, was abolished and replaced by a new system where classroom study was limited to one year divided into two semesters with examination at the end of each.. After the classroom work and examination, those deemed to have passed would go into internship with professional legal chambers or the courts for six months before the call to the Bar”.
The plaintiffs said they were in the novel system and after the first semester; which lasted between October 2015 and May 2016, examinations were conducted in six subjects from May to June last year, but no results were published for any of the students to know their performance.
“No transcripts of results were made available to anybody, making it impossible for them to know how well they did in any paper”, lawyer Yeboah bemoaned.
Meanwhile, the defendant , in its affidavit against the motion has also prayed the court to disregard the claims by the plaintiffs, because “Since the applicants, like all other students who took the June and September 2016 examination have had their scripts marked by two independent examiners already, after which the results of all the students were released, the refusal by the council to have the applicants failed scripts to be remarked by another third party is unfair, unreasonable or in breach of any rule of law”.
According to them, after the scripts were marked and submitted to the independent Examinations Board, including the reports by the initial examiner, the EIB in turn will submit all the scripts marked as well as the report showing the various marks obtained by each student with instructions to an external examiner, the external examiner, then with the instructions to inter alia marks all the failed scripts to ensure that they have indeed failed the particular subject.
“In the exercise of discretionary power granted the council to decide the manner to hold examinations and access students, council by its examination regulations for the June and September 2016 professional Law course stipulated that upon the completion of every examination, all the answer scripts will be will be submitted by the Independent Examinations Board, of the Council to an initial Examiner for marking with instructions to return the marked scripts with a report indicating the number of scripts marked, the list of students by the index numbers and the marks obtained, and the number of students who passed”, the explained.
Meanwhile the court, presided over by Her Ladyship, Gifty Adjei Addo, has set 26th of this month for Judgment.
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