CLE approves Guyana law school; paves way for 1st of its kind locally

…Regions 2, 3, 6 & 9 to open medicine, engineering schools

After years of various attempts, Guyana is now closer to setting up its own law school, following the much-anticipated approval from the Council of Legal Education (CLE). This was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali during his inauguration speech on Saturday morning after being sworn-in for a second term in office following the September 1 General and Regional Elections.
“Based on the recent approval granted by the Council for Legal Education, we will commence work immediately on the establishment of Guyana’s very own law school,” the Head of State declared. Over the last two years, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has been working to get permission from the CLE to establish much-needed law school here. The CLE is a regional organisation which operates the Hugh Wooding Law School in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. Guyana had previously conducted a feasibility study for the establishment of a local law school and the findings were handed over to the CLE last September. Additionally, a high-level subcommittee was appointed to review Guyana’s application. The sub-committee comprises Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, SC; Justice Liesel Weekes, SC, Chairperson of the CLE; Reginald Armour, SC, AG of Trinidad and Tobago; Justice Louise Blenman, Chief Justice of Belize; and Jacqueline Samuels-Browne, a member of the CLE as well as Jamaican lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett. Meanwhile, the Guyana Government has already identified land for the construction of the school. Previously, then AG Nandlall had revealed that approximately seven acres of land within the precincts of the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen Campus, Greater Georgetown, Campus were identified for the establishment of the law school. According to President Ali on Saturday, the law school will “…enable hundreds of persons to qualify as Attorneys-at-Law right here in Guyana, with full rights to practice in CARICOM countries.”
For nearly three decades, Guyana has been trying to establish a law school within its jurisdiction since law students are forced to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. However, only the 25 top law students from Guyana are allowed each year into the programme. UG’s Law Degree programme usually sits about 40 students per year. Moreover, the high cost of living in Trinidad has deterred many persons from further pursuing a legal career; but in response, the Guyana Government now offers limited fully-funded scholarships to Hugh Wooding Law School. The journey to setting a local law school started some three years ago when Guyana’s proposal to set up its own law school was accepted by the CLE in September 2022. The CLE subsequently outlined the requirements that the country needed to fulfil, including the conducting of a comprehensive feasibility study in which Guyana has to illustrate the number of students the school will attract and accommodate, as well as Government’s capacity to fund the construction of the facility and its initial operation cost. Under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition Administration, attempts were made to establish the Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes Law School. However, the CLE was not approached about the project initially and when permission was eventually sought, it was denied in late 2017. However, the PPP/C Government had previously declared that any law school that is established in Guyana will be done under the ambit of the CLE – something that will also allow the country to capitalise on the overcrowding at the other institutions across the region.

Schools of Medicine & Engineering
Meanwhile, President Ali on Saturday also announced plans for the expansion of the University of Guyana’s (UG) medical and engineering programmes to several regions across the country. This will see some 200 seats now being available in the next six weeks for persons in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), who will now be able to pursue professional training in these two disciplines without having to relocate to the capital city or even abroad.
“These skills type are in high demand and we’re going to ensure that Regions Nine, Two, Three and Six in six weeks, will be in a position to deliver education in every field of the College of Medicine and the University of Guyana, Faculty of Engineering” President Ali stated during his inauguration speech.
This developments form part of a broader national strategy to decentralise higher education, strengthen professional capacity, and ensure equitable access to training across all regions. Only last month, the Guyanese leader had revealed plans to have a branch of UG’s College of Medical Sciences to be established at the newly commissioned $930 million Tuschen Secondary School on the East Bank of Essequibo in Region Three. He said the school will be utilised for this purpose in the evening and doctors will have an opportunity to have a second job at lecturing.
UG currently offers about 17 programmes in its College of Medical Sciences and since the Government made it tuition-free to study at the institution, there have been hundreds of applications. Ali had disclosed that over 200 of those applications are from Region Three but only 86 were accepted at the Turkeyen campus due to space limitations. As such, the decision was taken to make the Tuschen Secondary School a dual-purpose facility so that no applicant is denied the opportunity to pursue their education. Similarly, on the 2025 elections campaign trail last month, Dr Ali announced plans for his new Government to establish a UG Faculty of Engineering at Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD).
“Today, some young kids came to me and they said we applied to do civil engineering at the University of Guyana, but they were told that they are out of seats… I said nonsense! We will build the seats in the TVET Centre at Leonora, and give you a Faculty of Engineering right here,” he had told residents of Region Three.
According to Ali, “No longer must ‘no’ be the answer for the children of our country. We will break every barrier to give them the opportunity they want [so that] they can be the best they want to be… No one will tell you that there are not enough seats at the University. We will invest in those seats so your children will be the doctors, the lab technicians, the dental technicians, the biochemists – whatever they want to do, they can do right here in Region Three.”