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Claim: An X user claims that students from senior high school (SHS) can gain admission to the Ghana School of Law.
Verdict: Misleading. DUBAWA’s checks reveal that although SHS students can gain admission to any law faculty in the various universities, admission to the Ghana School of Law requires an LL.B.
Full Text
Discussions on legal education have gained public attention in Ghana. The recent discussions centred on the decentralisation of the Ghana School of Law to allow for an additional intake.
The Parliament of Ghana is set to pass the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025, which aims to expand access to professional legal education. The bill will establish the Council for Legal Education and Training and provide curriculum and standards for legal education.
In commenting on legal education, an X user, @stephenyayra8, posted that one can get into the Ghana Law School from SHS.
“I never knew you could enter the Ghana law school straight from SHS. Wow,” he wrote.
As of March 21, 2025, the post had garnered 104,000 views, 1,300 likes, and 68 bookmarks.
But can one enter the Ghana Law School from SHS? DUBAWA decided to probe further to clarify issues related to legal education in Ghana.
Verification
In Ghana, to gain access to tertiary education, a candidate must pass the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) organised by the West African Examinations Council. Various courses require students to meet a cutoff grade to be admitted.
Various public and private universities offer legal education courses to obtain a Bachelor of Laws (LLB). These include the University of Ghana Law School, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Faculty of Law, the GIMPA Law School, the University of Cape Coast Faculty of Law, and the Central University Faculty of Law, among others.
These universities provide comprehensive legal education to both undergraduate candidates seeking a first degree in law and postgraduate candidates pursuing 4- and 3-year programmes, respectively.
An undergraduate candidate must have met the admission requirements. Three credits passes in 3 core subjects and three credit passes in 3 elective subjects in WASSCE. On the other hand, a postgraduate candidate seeking a post-first-degree law qualification must have had at least a second-class lower in any discipline to gain admission. Both WASSCE and post-graduate candidates can gain admission to any of the law faculties in the various universities.
However, to become a lawyer, Bachelor of Laws (LLB) holders must take a two-year professional law course at the Ghana School of Law. To be eligible for the professional law course, an applicant must be a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) graduate from any of the approved public or private universities and must have passed at least one of the following:
- Law of Taxation
- Intellectual Property Law
- Environmental Law
- Natural Resources Law
Conclusion
Although an SHS candidate with the right grades can gain admission to any law faculty in the various universities, the Ghana School of Law only accepts LLB graduates. The claim that one can enter Ghana Law School straight from SHS is misleading.
