Students of the Ghana School of Law Thursday morning boycotted a paper they were supposed to write in protest against a mix-up in the questions.
The students were supposed to write their second paper for the first semester Thursday morning but, led by their Students’ Representative Council (SRC), they boycotted the paper.
According to the students, even though they were writing a Criminal Procedure paper, two of the questions had absolutely nothing to do with the Subject – they were Law of Evidence questions.
The situation was compounded by the fact that one question had been cancelled, reducing the number of options available to them.
By the structure of the exam, students were supposed to choose four questions out of six. But with one question cancelled, they now had five questions from which to choose four.
Students of the Makola and GIMPA campuses of the School said they felt imperilled by the fact even the five questions left, two of them were Law of Evidence and not Criminal Procedure questions.
There have been simmering tensions over the conduct of examinations at the Ghana School of Law for some time now.
Previously, the School examined students internally; lecturers taught and set exams.
About three years ago, however, the General Legal Council, which has supervisory jurisdiction over the legal education in Ghana, led by Chief Justice Georgina Wood, decided to take the conduct of examinations away from the School.
The Council set up a body called the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) charged with the responsibility of conducting examinations.
Since then, there have muted anger by both students and lecturers who contend that this body is an anonymous body whose members are neither known nor are they governed by any statute.
Last year, more than a 100 students failed in at least one subject, a development the students say was tragic.
Before the advent of IEB, students were given eight questions from which to choose four.
But that has now reduced to six and even then, there are mix-ups as questions from different subjects are mixed and presented to students.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, some of the students said they are very frustrated by the repeated tardy nature of the examinations.