Provisional registration has been granted to the Inter American School of Nursing, and its owner Nanda Kissoon has a six-month period to make “certain qualitative improvements,” Chairman of the National Accreditation Council (NAC) Khemraj Rai said.
Kissoon is elated over this new development and sees it as vindication that she did nothing wrong from the inception, when her institution was branded “bogus”, leading to her arrest and subsequent decision to repay the students who had signed up for her nursing courses.
Stabroek News understands that Kissoon went to the NAC’s office at the Ministry of Education, Lot 68 Brickdam and uplifted the document three Fridays ago.
When contacted, Rai said that at the end of the stipulated period another assessment would be done by the NAC and appropriate action taken if necessary. This procedure, he indicated applies to all institutions that fall under the regulatory umbrella of the NAC. However, Rai did not reveal to this newspaper what were the improvements that Kissoon needed to make.
Kissoon had expressed displeasure at a story published last month in this newspaper about her school being reopened despite not being registered with the NAC, stating that one of the stipulations of the application process was that the institution had to be in operation.
Asked about this, Rai said that while the law does not stipulate prerequisites for registration, at the same time it does not prevent the institution from opening its doors to students.
He stressed that what the law does require is that the institution registers with the NAC or be penalized with a fine.
Kissoon was arrested in January, shortly after Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy accused her of operating a bogus nursing education outfit and scamming hundreds of unsuspecting young people of large sums of money which they had paid for their respective courses.
While being held, the woman repaid some of the students their money and then she was released on $100,000 bail.
However the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) later recommended that no charges be laid against the woman and it still remains unclear why that decision was made given the fact that she was not registered with the NAC and her courses were not being accredited by that body.
Rai had told this newspaper during previous interviews that looking into Kissoon’s past was not a criterion for her application, noting that the law does not provide for preventing anyone from operating, rather it provides for the courts to fine persons operating in violation of the act. He had also pointed out that the council has no authority to close down Kissoon’s outfit, but she can be fined every time she is in violation of the act. She can be denied registration and/or her registration can be revoked, he explained.
He did admit that while the council came into being in 2004, “for all the practical purposes, [it] did not function effectively.”
Not functioning
In an interview with this newspaper, which was conducted shortly after the provisional license was granted, Kissoon said the school not being registered was not her fault since the NAC was not functioning at that time. According to her, she ensured that the Education Ministry knew of the school’s existence.
She said she had asked for forms and documents but never received any. She later learnt that the council was not functioning.
This newspaper was able to confirm that the NAC was not functioning for the whole of 2008 and at least the first two months of this year.
Kissoon said she decided to open the school which is recognized in the United States to give Guyanese opportunities to elevate themselves.
“We want to share an American education with Guyanese… I am glad to announce that the NAC has granted my registration. People can come. They have nothing to fear,” she said adding that her school is not fraud or scam and she is not trying to rob anyone.
She later said that an American branch of the school existed since 1989 but under a different name.
“I really want to show people the light. Come back and enroll; start your career. You still have an opportunity,” was her plea to the former students of the school.
Kissoon stated that she is currently doing registration and some of her students live outside Georgetown. Once things are organized, she said, branches will be set up in Essequibo, Berbice and Bartica.