Med student gets schol after lawsuit

2978073

A medical student, who successfully challenged a move by the Ministry of Education to change the criteria for scholarships in 2018, has been awarded a scholarship.

The case brought by former Presentation College student Idris Segulam came to a close as the Ministry of Education agreed that he would have received an additional scholarship under the previous criteria, that was in place when he chose his Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects in 2017.

In the lawsuit, Segulam admitted that he brought the case after learning that a classmate had won a similar lawsuit against the State.

However, that student was not as lucky as his reassessment did not result in him qualifying under the previous criteria.

In his affidavit attached to the case, Segulam claimed that his choice of Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Science as subjects was based on the fact that he would have qualified in two scholarship categories.

Under the new criteria, which was implemented months after the students began their studies, he would have only qualified under one.

In both cases, the students argued that the retroactive nature of the order breached their legitimate expectations to be considered under the previous criteria and was unreasonable and irregular.

Last year, Segulam’s case was upheld by High Court Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell, which led to the reassessment.

Segulam was represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Che Dindial, Renuka Rambajan, and Alana Rambaran.

Maria Belmar-Williams, Jayanti Teeluckdharry, and Andella Ramroop represented the ministry.