Law school confirms most students flunked ethics course

The Norman Manley Law School (NMLS) in Jamaica has confirmed that the majority of students who sat the exam for its ethics, rights and obligations of the legal profession course in May failed.

This was disclosed by Principal Carol Aina in a letter to The Gleaner on Tuesday, a week after students who failed the course raised concerns about how the matter was being handled.

READ: Norman Manley Law School responds to call for reform

Aina noted that 231 students sat the exam and 132 failed, resulting in a failure rate of 57 per cent.

She said students who failed three or fewer exams, including the ethics exams, are entitled to, on application, a remark by “two fresh and independent markers”.

“If, after a remark, a student is adjudged to have still failed the exam in question then, if the student has failed two or less examinations, the student will be entitled to a second sitting of a new examination in the course in question; in other words, a supplementary examination scheduled in August,” the principal said.

Of the 125 students listed to sit supplemental exams for courses, 113 did not achieve a passing grade for the ethics course administered.

Aina said since the remarking process is underway and the supplementary exam is pending, “it is inappropriate and premature for the NMLS to give a comprehensive response”.

Still, students have criticised the law school, insisting that there has been a lack of transparency.

The Gleaner was told on Tuesday by one student, who asked not to be identified out of fear of being victimised, that requests to view scripts has been denied.

“Regrettably, the option for students to view their scripts is not available,” the school said, directing students to a message posted by the course director on the ethics Microsoft Teams platform.

The student argued that a go-through or review of scripts is permissible in most – if not all – institutions at The University of the West Indies, where the law school is based.

The student said this is to identify issues.

“Although the school facilitated a review session with the tutor, they are still denying us a right to view our paper, which is not transparent or equitable,” the student argued.

“In the review session, we weren’t able to see our papers to see if we had any or all of what the course director wanted. Many students still don’t understand after the review, and students in the review even questioned the manner in which she was marking the papers in comparison to the other tutors,” the student added.

A week ago, The Gleaner reported that dozens of year two students were protesting their results for the course following an alarming number of failures.

The students argued that the school did not have their interest at heart and some called the large number of failures an attempt at a money grab.

“When you fail, your school fee is doubled … . If it’s your first time in first year or second year, you pay somewhere between $1.3 million and $1.4 million. If you fail at that point, once you re-enrol to sit back that same year you failed, you are now going to pay double whatever that is. So, $2.6 million or thereabout,” a student said at that time.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com