A Member of Parliament’s Subsidiary Legislation Committee, Mahama Shaibu, is pushing for the scrapping of the interview session, which is a major entry requirement into the School of Law at Makola, Accra.

This follows a petition by some law students to parliament, to reject a Legislative Instrument presented by the General Legal Council (GLC) to give legal backing to the interview session. The L.I., among other things, states that the GLC will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

According to the aggrieved students, the L.I. gives the council excessive powers which infringe on their rights.

Speaking to Class News, Mr Shaibu said their interactions with some students reveal that most of the questions asked at the interview sessions are not relevant to the law course.

He said: “We can do away with the human interface because the criticism is that people come for interview and questions that are asked are not legal. Some people came to tell the committee that they went and they were asked football questions. We cannot substantiate that though but we are saying that the interview has a human interface.

“You and I have sat in interviews either being interviewed or doing the interview and, therefore, you have a certain feeling when you meet people and, therefore, the considered view of the majority of the committee members is that we take away the interview aspect of it. Let people write their exams, if they pass, they come to the school. At the end of the day, it is not the 30 minutes interview that is to determine whether you will be a good lawyer or not. Besides, there is ethical training at the law school.

“If the person comes and doesn’t pass the exams, you fail the person and he goes. If you conduct an exam, you pick on merit. Many people pass the exams, they fail at the interview [session] and they cannot understand why I should pass an exam and then you fail me at the interview and these are legitimate concerns.”