Students at the Ghana School of Law have been directed to submit their various social media handles to authorities for monitoring in order to ensure they do not violate the legal profession’s code of conduct.
Yaw Oppong, the School’s Director, stated that the legal profession is noble and that anyone who wishes to practice must be willing to follow its tenets.
“Everybody will have to provide their social media handles. We are going to look at it and you will be monitored in terms of conduct. We are required by law to make recommendations. We don’t want to stampede you.
“You are going to reapply beyond the pass and submit yourselves for all legitimate checks,” he said.
Oppong revealed this during the School of Law Students’ Representative Council (SRC) executives’ swearing-in ceremony, urging all students to submit themselves for character checks before the General Legal Council’s approval if they are indeed prepared to become lawyers and called to the bar.
“Once we are doing our best to ensure that as many of you as possible who want to help yourselves go beyond the stage you are, and we are succeeding, it will not compromise your good character.”
“It’s of no use if you are qualified to go to the second year, and you are told that you cannot go because of bad character,” he added.
Following certain decisions to strengthen entry requirements for students, the Ghana School of Law has come under scrutiny.
The initiatives, according to the school, were designed to ensure that the country’s standard of legal education is not lowered.
Furthermore, many analysts, including legal practitioners, have questioned the school’s marking schemes, which caused many students to fail their exams to be called to the bar, causing some Ghanaians to seek legal education abroad.
