A former Education Minister Ekwow Spio-Garbrah says government must give private universities a few years tax holiday before taxing their profits, if any.
Professor David Millar, immediate past Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, said government’s decision to bring private universities into the tax net would marginalise students from the three northern regions.
Parliament recently amended Section 6 of the Internal Revenue Act, Act 859 of 2000 to exclude private universities from the expression "educational institution of a public character" contained in the definition of organisations exempted from paying tax.
The Youth Institute for Democratic Initiative (YIDI -Ghana) humbly calls on Government to restore the tax exempt status of private universities in the country. Considering the inability of public universities to admit the ever increasing number of Senior High School graduates annually, private universities serve as the only hope and option for thousands of Senior High School graduates who are unable to attend public universities due to inadequate number of facilities at public universities.
The President of the Catholic Institute of Business and Technology (CIBT), Very Reverend Jonathan Ankrah, says private universities should be seen as major contributors to national development rather than money-making ventures.
At the first graduation of 45 pioneers in Bachelor of Science degree, Business Administration; Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration; Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and of course Bachelor of Arts, Study of Religion and Church Administration, the Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic Institute of Business and Technology (CIBT) Monsignor Dr. Jonathan Thomas Ankrah patriotically paddled into the debatable debate surrounding the role of private universities in Ghana.
In 1999, only two private universities existed in Ghana. Now the country’s National Accreditation Board lists 43 private institutions offering degree programs, and most are Ghanaian-owned.
The Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Private Universities, Prof Kwesi Yankah, has called on government to take a second look at the imposition of tax on Private Universities.
Private universities in Ghana have appealed to government to restore the tax exempt status due them to enable them fully discharge their responsibilities to the people.
Private universities in Ghana have appealed to government to restore the tax exempt status due them to enable them fully discharge their responsibilities to the people.
The Entrepreneurship Training Institute (ETI) has held its fourth Congregation ceremony in Accra with a call on private universities to invest more in the development of the competence of their staff to ensure quality education.
Out of the 60 Private Universities in Ghana, only one of them has the Presidential Charter to award its own degrees and certificates, Professor Kwesi Yankah, President of Central University College, has disclosed.
In an era of private universities, those of the 61,000 left stranded, whose parents can afford it, would be admitted into private universities or sent abroad. Let say 10,000. And another 10,000 would find their way into the polytechnic system and other state tertiary institutions.
The President of the Ghana Baptist University College (GBUC), Rev. Dr Kojo Osei-Wusuh, has called on the government to seriously review the imposition of taxes on private universities to save some of the institutions from collapse.
The Ghana Baptist University College has held its eighth matriculation ceremony at Amakom, Kumasi, with a plea to government to give the private universities tax waivers.
The Anglican University College of Technology (ANGUTECH) has inaugurated its premier campus at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region to mark its operations. Inaugurating the campus at Nkoranza last Friday, the Archbishop of Internal Province of the Anglican Church of Ghana, Most Reverend (Rev.) Dr Daniel Yinkah Sarfo, called on the government to compliment the efforts of private universities by supporting them with infrastructural facilities and other necessary incentives as are being enjoyed by public tertiary institutions.
President John Dramani Mahama has assured that government would implore Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to provide some minimum support annually for staff training in the private tertiary institutions in the country.