Student wins case against university

 THE National Court has ordered the University of Papua New Guinea to allow a medical student to register for his final year pending the hearing of a case questioning his eligibility to proceed to that stage.

Justice Colin Makail last Friday ruled that UPNG should allow Philip Kame to start on his final year at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences pursuing a degree in pharmacy.

Makail said the balance of convenience favoured Kame because not allowing him to register would result in him not completing this year of study.  

The matter returns to court on March 6 for the hearing of Kame’s application for a judicial review on the decision by UPNG to have him repeat the fourth year because he did not achieve the Grade Point Average (GPA) of 1.75. 

Kame argued he had met the GPA of 1.5 to proceed to the next level. 

Kame’s lawyer filed the application for an interim mandatory injunction naming UPNG medical school head of pharmacy Dr Jackson Lauwo as the first defendant. 

UPNG’s lawyer told the court that the minimum GPA was 1.75, thus Kame had to repeat his fourth year of studies to meet the required GPA.  

Makail said there were serious issues which could be argued at the substantive hearing. Pending that, he said Kame should enrol for his final year.  

Makail said damages would not be an adequate remedy for Kame for losing an opportunity to further his studies.