By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
TURKEYEN, GREATER GEORGETOWN — Nearly two years after sitting examinations in Criminal Law I and Criminal Law II, more than 200 University of Guyana (UG) law students across two distinct academic cohorts remain without their official grades, plunging their academic progression into uncertainty and jeopardizing final-year applications to regional law schools.
The persistent grading deadlock—stemming from the 2024/2025 academic year—has triggered mounting outrage among Bachelor of Laws (LLB) candidates. Despite high-level institutional assurances issued in late 2025 promising an immediate resolution, students have crossed the 22-month mark without official academic transcripts or a formal administrative explanation from the university.
Broken Commitments and a 22-Month Stalemate
The grading crisis first took root in late 2024 and has lingered through successive academic terms without resolution:
- The Initial Assessment: Approximately 100 students sat the Criminal Law I examination on December 2, 2024, with the actual affected number climbing higher after factoring in subsequent supplemental and resit sittings.
- The October 2025 Retraction: The issue first reached public scrutiny on October 1, 2025, following a public complaint by affected students. At the time, the University of Guyana administration formally acknowledged the administrative lapse, describing the prolonged delay as “regrettable” and issuing a firm commitment that the outstanding grades would be processed and published within the following week.
- Unfulfilled Promises: That institutional timeline elapsed without the release of scores. Nearly 22 months following the initial December 2024 sitting, the university has failed to deliver the grades or provide a revised publication schedule.
Regional Law School Applications Under Direct Threat
The administrative delay has created acute professional bottlenecks for graduating LLB candidates preparing to transition into professional legal practice:
- Hugh Wooding Entry Window: Final-year law students are required to submit completed, verified academic transcripts to regional institutions—most notably the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) in Trinidad and Tobago—during the annual January admissions cycle.
- Incomplete Academic Transcripts: Speaking on condition of strict anonymity for fear of academic victimization, final-year students warned that incomplete transcripts render their applications uncompetitive or administratively invalid, threatening their admission to the Council of Legal Education (CLE) professional certificate program.
- Two Cohorts Paralyzed: Beyond graduating seniors, continuing second-year students have also been unable to confirm their prerequisite standing, bringing the total number of affected students across the two cohorts to over 200.
“Applications for law school are usually in January,” an affected final-year student explained to HGP Nightly News. “Incomplete or unverifiable transcripts complicate those applications and derail our professional plans entirely.”
Resit Policy Penalties Compound Student Frustrations
Compounding the anxiety surrounding the missing grades is the university’s institutional resit policy, which students argue is inherently punitive when combined with administrative delays:
- Grade C Ceiling: Under current academic regulations, any student required to sit a supplemental or resit examination is restricted to a maximum achievable grade of “C”, regardless of whether their actual score merits an “A” or “B”.
- Compounded Injustice: Students noted that when institutional delays hold grades for months, those who are eventually informed that they must resit are forced to take exams under rushed conditions while balancing full-time employment and subsequent courses, only to have their grade artificially capped.
- Call for Structural Accountability: While acknowledging that individual lecturers may be operating in good faith, student advocates insisted that the institution must establish formal accountability, issue an unequivocal date for the grade release, and overhaul internal communication mechanisms.
Department Response: Justice (Ret’d) Abel Says Issue Being Addressed
Contacted by HGP Nightly News for an official response regarding the crisis, retired jurist and senior academic figure Justice (Ret’d) Abel confirmed that the department is actively intervening in the matter.
In an invited comment, Justice Retired Abel assured that his department is “presently addressing the issue” to bring closure to the protracted dispute.
However, with the January 2027 regional law school application deadline approaching, affected students maintain that verbal reassurances are no longer sufficient. They are calling on the University of Guyana Academic Board and the Department of Law to immediately publish all outstanding marks and provide certified transcripts to safeguard their legal careers.
