The government is still considering setting up a law school here, according to Attorney-General Basil Williams, who says that its recent financial contribution to the Hugh Wooding Law School is temporary.
“The US$85, 000 injection is a holding situation while we explore the question of setting up a law school in Guyana,” he told reporters during a press conference at his office on Wednesday.
The money being referred to was approved by the National Assembly last month to assist Guyanese law students attending the Trinidad Law School over the next two years.
Asked whether the money has been paid, he said that the money was paid over to the law school before he went to the 48th meeting of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) held in Antigua & Barbuda earlier this month. At that meeting, the automatic entry of a quota of 25 eligible University of Guyana (UG) students into the law school was guaranteed for each of the next three academic years, after successful advocacy on the issue by the local delegation.
“The money has been paid. It is for 50 students each year and whether it is a combination of economic cost and defraying the expenses per student, at the end of the day it is US$85,000. Whether it is fees or economic cost, it goes into the coffers of the Hugh Wooding Law School,” Williams told reporters.
Williams recalled that under the last administration, no money had been paid since 2002.
Asked if the government is again looking to give scholarships to law students, he responded in the negative. “No. Cabinet never addressed that,” he said. Over the years, UG law graduates have faced a range of problems with regard to admission into Hugh Wooding, including the quota and more recently a sudden hike in tuition fees.
In July last year, the law school, located at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, announced a more than 30% increase in its tuition fees as well as changes in its payment scheme that would require prospective and continuing students to pay 100% of their fees at the beginning of the school year. Many local students had indicated that they were unable to pay the increases and calls were made for government to provide some assistance.
Williams had said that in the long term the government will be looking to open its own law school, while short-term proposals include possible subsidisation of the cost for Guyanese students.
