Private Tertiary Educational Institutions unhappy with GTEC over unfair bias

A group of Private Tertiary Educational Institutions (PTEI) are accusing their regulatory body(GTEC) of what it described as biases towards their operations which is collapsing their businesses.

The unfair treatment and biases, according to them are impacting the running of their respective Tertiary Educational Institutions negatively thereby risking their collapse. He lamented that out of the possible 100% University enrollment in the country, PTEI only get access to a beggarly 11%, a matter they said does not auger well for the continuous survival.

To sustain their businesses, the Private Tertiary Educational Institutions believe that the earlier the regulatory body, GTEC, reconsiders its stands on several issues including affiliation, and enrollment of students beyond their earlier threshold, the better. The President, of Wisconsin University International College(WUIC), Dr. Paul Kofi Fynn bemoaned the government's renege on offering their outfit some form of grants and tax exemptions to enable them to maximize profit and stay in business.

According to Dr. Fynn, Private Tertiary Educational Institutions are a major source of employment for several employees who otherwise would have remained unemployed therefore calling on the government to consider their plights and provide them with some tax exemptions.

Referencing the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and its resultant lockdown in 2020 which revealed the vulnerability of their respective Universities making the running of the same very tough. He stated that even though schools were closed for almost a year, private schools paid the salaries of their staff members, a situation he observed, that the government could have mitigated.

They however appealed to the government to grant them some tax exemptions on the importation of building equipment and other areas to ease the burden. The Wisconsin International University College President revealed that when his outfit started putting up a six units story building, the Ghana Revenue Authority stopped them from demanding payment of taxes, a situation he noted is hindering the smooth running of Private schools in Ghana.

He thinks they should rather be encouraged with tax exemptions. But the Chairman of the program and the Former Vice Chancellor, of the University of Mines and Technology, Professor Jerry Samuel Yaw Kuma thinks differently.

He does not believe that private schools are collapsing under the current status but acknowledged that the concerns raised were just concerns. He urged the schools to table their concerns and have a conversation with GTEC to look for ways to mitigate the same. Deserving individuals and institutions were acknowledged.