Act in the making to regulate private education institutions

Mar 07, 2017 News

The Education Act in its current form does not have sufficient clout to regulate the operations of private institutions. Moreover, there are plans apace to have the Act revised.

Technical Advisor to the Education Minister, Vincent Alexander

“The Education Act, as it is, does not have sufficient teeth, so to speak, in regards to regulating private schools. It is envisaged that the new Act, will be strengthened in terms of what the Ministry can do to regularise private schools,” said Technical Advisor to the Education Minister, Vincent Alexander.
Alexander’s comments in this regard were shared during an interview with the Government Information Agency.
He pointed out that the regularisation of all private education institutions will be provided for under the new Education Act.
Based on disclosures from Government during the past week about private education institutions, it was revealed that only 20 per cent are recognised and registered with the Ministry of Education.
Notwithstanding the kind of anticipatory approach, Alexander noted that the Ministry has designated an education officer who is responsible for private schools. This move follows on the heels of reports from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) that only 57 per cent of the private schools are registered with the entity.
Moreover, the Education Ministry is working towards ensuring that all private schools are registered. “This will only be perfected when we finalise the legislation, which will then provide for the Ministry to regulate the private schools in a manner which it is not provided for (in the current Education Act),” Alexander asserted.
There is a draft Bill and the intention is that after the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Guyana’s education system is completed and a report in this regard is made available, the Ministry will then be acting on two major documents – the sector’s strategic plan, for which a review will be done, and the finalisation of the draft Education Bill.
According to Alexander, too, after the Bill is reviewed, it will be taken to the Attorney General Chambers, then to Parliament for consideration.
“It’s a work in progress in terms of upgrading the Education Act. It is far gone. It’s just for us to do a slight adjustment to that Bill in terms of what the COI comes up with,” Alexander said.
The 14 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on private tuition fees has resulted in public outcry from various factions, including the head of private learning schools.
During a press conference last week, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan explained that private schools have not been fulfilling their tax and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) obligations. Ten percent of private schools are registered as Non -Governmental Organisations (NGOs) or Not-for-Profit, while 14 are registered as profit-making organisations, however only 57 percent are registered with the GRA.
Minister Jordan said that most of the private schools are not compliant and that the call to remove the VAT on tuition fees would result in a loss of around $350M and could therefore result in an upturn of the government’s economic programme.

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