Protestors continue vigil against education VAT
-call for its suspension this year
The protest against VAT on private education tuition continued yesterday with protestors calling on the government to suspend the tax for the remainder of the year, before completely removing it in 2018.
Around a dozen parents and adult learners who are part of the private education system, lined up on Vlissengen Road, opposite the Ministry of the Presidency during the lunch hour. Those who gathered for the protest, which is now in its eighth week, said they were not disappointed by the small turnout and explained that while they were a handful, the message is still being sent to the government informing them, “that we are against VAT on education and would not stop until it is removed.”
The group also disclosed that they would also continue to picket for the removal of VAT on private education and not just tuition fees. The government has said that the VAT on private education tuition will remain for 2017 and would reviewed in 2018.
According to Jonathan Yearwood, a student of Nations University and who has been a regular in the protests, they will be protesting until they see a reversal or change in the decision by government.
“I don’t think they have considered the effects … on people paying for private education. And now that we are calling for it to be removed it seems as if they are afraid to remove it because it might be an embarrassment to them… ,” Yearwood said, whilst pointing out that the tax is putting a strain on not only parents to find the money, but all working adults who are enrolled in private institutions.
“I am a student at a private institution trying to elevate myself to get a raise in pay, and possibly a promotion, but it seems as if the government doesn’t want me or any other, to get this,” he added.
The government he said is encouraging persons to empower themselves but yet they are putting a burden on the same persons, by enforcing the tax on their education.
Yearwood also called on President David Granger to take time off and meet with the group at least once, to listen to them directly, instead of relying on second hand reports relayed to him.
One mother, Bonita Dookie of AIshalton, Region Nine, said that she has been finding it challenging to support two of her children who are in private schools in the city since the imposition of the tax.
She stressed that after her daughter was granted a scholarship to attend school in Georgetown