Law Education Being Skewed to Favour Privileged Few – Muntaka

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, has said law education in the country appears to be skewed to favour a privileged few.

The comment comes on the back of the mass failure of students who sat for the bar exams last year.

Only 91 students out of the 474 who sat the exams passed to be called to the bar. A total of 206 law students are to repeat the entire course whilst another 177 students have been referred in one or two papers.

The development comes at a time the country is discussing the relevance of the entrance exams at the law school conducted by the General Legal Council.

Speaking to Starr News, the Asawase MP who is waging a campaign against the entrance exams at the law school, said the conduct of the General Legal Council must not be tolerated anymore.

“I’m a member of Parliament and I need to represent my constituents, you hear them saying that it is some deliberate attempt by some people to make legal education a privilege of a few, so that there will not be enough, so that the few that are there become a privileged few.

“If you look at the essence for which that school was established, you would see that we have moved far away from the objectives that is why we in Parliament must do as much as we can to bring them back on track,” he said.

Meanwhile, the law students association which has been angered by the mass failure has accused the Independent Examination Body (IEB) of incompetence.

In a communique to students in light of the development, the association questioned the integrity of the IEB calling for different examiners to remark the failed papers.

The association has asked its members on all their campuses to wear red armbands in protest of the results. The group will later today address a news conference on the matter.

Source: Starrfmonline