School Fees Killing Law Students ? SRC President

The President of the Students? Representative Council (SRC) at the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Mrs. Samuel Sampson Sackey, has stated that only 75 out of the over 450 students of GSL have paid their full fees for the 2003 and 2004 academic year, due to the high fees charged at the school.

He outlined that there was a clear indication that students were finding it ?tough? to pay the high school fees.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of ht 45th Annual Law week celebration, whose theme is, ?The Law, the Media and the Citizen.

Mr. Sackey indicated that currently, preliminary one law students pays ?12million a year, and preliminary two and professional two students pay ?75million per year, as school fees. Apart from the school fees, he noted, students spend huge sums of money on books, accommodation and transportation. The president observed that most of the students depend only on the social security and national Insurance Trust (SSNIT) students? loan of ?2million, and governments bursary of ?2million.

He therefore proposed that a special loan facility of about ?5million a year, be made available for law students to enable them pursue their courses without much difficulty.

Mr. Sackey appealed to government to increase its bursary to ?5million per student per annum.

The SRC president also appealed to the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice George Kingsley Acquah and the General Legal Council to review the current arrangements where students who fail in two out of six law courses, are required to re-write the whole examination.

The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Acquah, who launched the week-long celebration, assured the students that their concerns would be considered. Mr. Kwaku Ansah-Asare, the director of the Ghana School of Law, urged students to sacrifice if they want to get quality legal education and facilities in the school to be improved.