Private legal practitioner, Mercy Ohenewaa Afful, has attributed the law school failure rate to sex for marks among some lecturers in the Ghana School of Law.
The lawyer, speaking on Happy FM’s Epa Hoa Daben, said: “It is very appalling that some students from poor backgrounds have to learn very hard to build a better future for themselves, yet they face a system where some lecturers will make or unmake your future for you.”
“Per my own experience, Lecturers fail students for so many reasons; Political reasons. We have politicians who are at the law school; if a lecturer belongs to party A and you belong to party B, he will fail you. Vocal students, students who challenge lecturers in class get ‘mafiaed’ when they mark their papers,” Ohenewaa Afful said.
She revealed that in 2009 she was a victim of sexual harassment at the law school. “The third issue which is very key as some of us have the looks already so we went to law school to acquire more knowledge and better ourselves for the future. A lecturer will decide to fail you because you have said no to sex for marks. This is a big issue even if it’s not him marking your paper, he will conspire with the colleague to fail you. This happens in law school and some of us did not succumb to it. It is ok to fail but on what grounds” she quizzed.
“I was a married woman when I went to the school but this lecture wanted to have sex with me for marks. I won’t mention the lecture’s name, but I told him I won’t pursue the matter and promised him whenever I meet him, I will disgrace him. I even meet him at bar meetings,” she added.
Lawyer Ohenewaa Afful claim comes on the back of another case of mass examination failure at the Ghana School of Law. This time around, the mass failure was recorded at the entrance exams.
Of the nearly 1,820 prospective students, only 128 reportedly passed the entrance examination.