Caricom asks Council of Legal Education to take UG Law graduates

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 20:59 by GxMedia

There appears to be a resolution towards the issue of accommodating Guyanese law students at the Hugh Wooding Law Faculty for the upcoming academic year, Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall said today.

The AG was part of the Guyana delegation participating in the 25^th Inter-Sessional CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In an interview, with the Government Information Agency (GINA), AG Nandlall said that the Chairman of the Caribbean Community Dr. Ralph Gonsalves will be writing to the Council of Legal Education, informing that the 25 Guyanese students should be admitted for the academic year 2014.

Minister Nandlall added that the letter will also call for a review of the provision of legal education in the region to address the expanded need for accommodation and education. This is a serious issue which needs to be addressed as students from the London based LLB programme and Belize are adversely affected, the minister said.

The fate of Guyanese law students was recently put in limbo after the Hugh Wooding Law School indicated that it would be unable to accommodate additional students from the University of Guyana’s Law programme. As part of an agreement between UWI’s Council for Legal Education and UG, every year, 25 automatic placements were offered by the Council for Legal Education to UG for entry into Hugh Wooding. The Council however, recently took the decision that UG’s 2014 batch will not be guaranteed any place at the institution. 

Minister Nandlall previously emphasised, “Government considers this as a matter of priority because it puts in jeopardy the life and welfare of a number of students who would be completing the LLB programme at the University of Guyana in the year 2014, and as well, it jeopardises the entire law programme at the university and it jeopardises the future of students who are already in the programme and those students who are desirous of entering the programme.”

He noted that Government is always committed to ensuring its people, especially young people have access to education as it sees education as a vital tool to combat poverty and to advance citizens’ development.