Govt financially assisting overseas law students

─ scholarships being offered to Hugh Wooding Law School students

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Legal Affairs, is continuing an initiative it commenced upon coming into office in 2015, to financially assist qualified students to complete their studies.

The latest recipients, to be announced soon, are the students attending the Hugh Wooding Law School based in Trinidad and Tobago.

Earlier on Tuesday, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Basil Williams, SC., met with a group of Guyanese law students who are currently studying in the Twin-Island Republic, but are facing financial difficulty.

The meeting, requested by the students, comes on the heels of the government publicly announcing that it is offering scholarships through the Ministry of the Presidency, Department of Public Service, to qualified students.

Via a notice published in local newspapers this weekend, the scholarship was advertised for Legal Education Certificate (LEC) at the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago for the 2019/2020 academic year.

However, concerning the difficulty being experienced by students, the Attorney General explained that the government was faced with this problem when it came into office.

“When we entered into office, we met the problems that were being encountered by the law students. Very harsh conditions they were operating under… The previous administration had stopped any payment of any economic cost or offering scholarships,” AG Williams explained.

The AG told the media that the government’s collaborative agreement with the school had expired due to the stance taken by the previous PPP administration. This resulted in the Coalition Government restarting the process of negotiating.

“That year when I entered government, we actually had to get the President, who was attending the Heads of Government Conference for CARICOM, to intervene,” the Attorney General related.

The present agreement will expire this year. In the long run, though, the government is looking to establish its own law school, here in Guyana.