–for predicament of ‘medical school’ students

A PROTEST that was organised and led by known activists of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the People’s National Congress (PNC) was carried out on Wednesday outside the Ministry of Education.

However, shadow Minister of Education and APNU Member of Parliament (MP), Ms Amna Ally is maintaining that APNU had no part to play in the protest.

According to a release from the Education Ministry, “from a perusal of the placards held by the participants, it appears that said participants were protesting the treatment meted out to them by the Guyana Health Care Education Institute, also known as the School of Nursing, and the American Health Institute.”

The Education Ministry explained that they are perplexed as to why the APNU and PNC activists would grace the Ministry with their presence, when the facts of the matter would show clearly that the Ministry of Education is far from being in a place where any sensible person can lay the blame for the predicament the students are currently facing.

REGISTRATION DENIED
“The Ministry wishes to make it clear that the National Accreditation Council, a statutory body, denied registration to the Guyana Health Care Education Institute as an accredited institution on the grounds that this institution had not met the required standards and Ms. Nanda Kissoon, who had applied for said registration was duly informed,” said a statement released by the Ministry of Education.
The Council related that they were startled to have received an Order of Court calling on them to show cause why the decision “not to register should not be quashed”. Nigel Hughes, chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), then proceeded to the court to have Guyana Health Care Institution and Nanda Kissoon considered authentic.
The Ministry explained also that Kissoon and her lawyer have gone so far as to file Contempt of Court proceedings against the relevant body and persons, threatening to incarcerate them.
Noting however, the Council intends to vigorously defend these efforts by Kissoon and her lawyer and the Ministry of Education stands in solidarity with the Council. It is clear that the decisions by the Council are now vindicated by the behavior of the parties who the students are alleging scammed them.

WARNINGS
The Government of Guyana has repeatedly sounded warnings about this individual and her operations and given that the outfit against which the students are complaining is not duly registered, the Education Ministry stated.
The Ministry said that they are truly saddened by the plight that the victims of the alleged Health Institute/Nursing school scam suffer. “We do urge those suffering students not to allow themselves to be used and exploited by opportunistic politicians who can offer nothing more than loud and aggressive but empty promises,” the Ministry stated.
The Ministry of Education therefore is urging all Guyanese and particularly our young people to ensure that institutions that they seek to enter are fully recognised and registered appropriately by the relevant bodies such as the National Accreditation Council.
However, when contacted yesterday, shadow Minister of Education and APNU Member of Parliament (MP), Amna Ally rebuffed statements that the protest was led by APNU activists. Ally noted that nurses and other health officers who sought training at the institutions were those who led the protest last Wednesday. As such she assured that APNU had no part to play in the protest.
A statement was also issued yesterday by APNU, expressing their solidarity with students of the Nursing Institute who were alleging that tuition and other fees were fraudulently collected by the nursing school.
“APNU notes with great concern the recurrence of these instances where Guyanese students have been misled into paying tuition to non-accredited institutions,” the statement said.
The party, as such, is calling on the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and all other relevant government agencies to take all necessary measures to prevent a recurrence of this fiasco.

(Rebecca Ganesh-Ally & Ravin Singh)