According to the Minister of Education in a recent update, the Renewal License for Private Schools is now 3 years.
The Minister for Education after the National Schools Inspectorate Authority released a list of schools not licensed and accredited to offer Cambridge and IB curricula has said private schools license renewal will be done every three years.
Dr Adutwum who announced this in an interview with the Daily Graphic said private schools will pay their license (subscription) fees yearly. “In that way, we are separating licensing from the mere payment of fees that are due to NaSIA,” he added.
Commenting on the schools NaSIA said have not been accredited, the Education Minister said the move was to notify them their license fees have been delayed adding that “They were no way saying that those schools that were published have no authority to operate in the country.”
Hon Osei Adutwum further directed the Management of the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) not to license any private school that refuse to pay the compulsory licensing fees to continue operating in the country.
“In the education space, you cannot use year-to-year fee payment as a licence. Licensing goes beyond fees and that then decouples the fee payment from licensure,” the Teaching Minister told the Daily Graphic.
He explained that the yearly licensing regime was not the best, especially for foreigners, who might be looking for a school in the country, stressing that if the licensing period was 1 year, “they must be worried because the following year, the school may not be licensed.”
On the negative impact of Covid on private schools, the Minister asked the Registrar of NaSIA, Dr Haggar Ampadu, to work closely with the proprietors of private schools to resolve some of the concerns the schools were raising.
“The private schools are struggling. Some of them lost everything and so, now that they are back, it is incumbent on NaSIA to work with them in a cooperative way to ensure that they can come back on track,” Yaw Osei Adutwum said.
Mr Adutwum said the government understood their plight and was sympathetic to private schools, saying it was the reason for which when the government was distributing the COVID-19 personal protective equipment, the private schools were included.
