L.R.O. 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
TRAINING SCHOOLS ACT
CHAPTER 11:06
Act
8 of 1907
Amended by
11 of 1931 3 of 1944
16 of 1952 4 of 1972
19 of 2010
Current Authorised Pages
Pages
(inclusive)
Authorised
by L.R.O.
1 – 14 ... 1/2012
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Note
on
Subsidiary Legislation
Page
Training Schools (Belfield School) Order 15
(O. 138/1978)
Note
on
Repeal
This Act repealed the Onderneeming School Ordinance (1 of 1879).

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CHAPTER 11:06
TRAINING SCHOOLS ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Purpose of this Act.
4. Specifying and certifying of schools.
5. Saving of existing schools.
6. Staff of schools.
7. Appointment and duties of official visitors.
8. Regulations.
9. Annual report.
SENDING PERSONS TO SCHOOLS
10. Youths guilty of certain offences may be sent to a school.
11. Person under 17 who may be sent to a school.
12. Refractory youths may be sent to a school.
13. Form of order of detention.
14. Effect of order.
15. Evidence of order.
16. Sending youthful offenders to a school.
17. Removal of offender to a school.
18. Authority for detaining offender.
19. Saving of powers under other Acts.
GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF A SCHOOL
20. (1) Penalties for indiscipline.
(2) Refusal of girl in school to conform to regulations.
21. Escape of person from a school.
22. Assisting person to escape from a school or harbouring him after
escape.
23. Grant of licence to person to live out of school.
24. Power to apprentice person in a school.
25. Permission to reside away from school or to be enrolled in
Guyana Youth Corps.
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SECTION
MAINTENANCE OF PERSONS IN THE SCHOOL
26. Liability to contribute to maintenance of persons at a school.
27. (1) Mode of enforcing liability.
(5) Terms and enforcement of order for maintenance.
(6) Appropriation of payment.
(7) Power to remit payment.
(8) Variation of order of payment.
DISCHARGE OF PERSONS
28. Discharge of person.
29. Power of the Minister to order discharge of person.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
30. Use of forms.
31. Service of notice.
32. Evidence as to person being detained in a school.
33. Procedure and appeal
SCHEDULE—FORMS
__________________________ 1929 Ed.
c. 193
1952 Ed.
c. 93 _______________________________________________________
8 of 1907 An Act to provide for the establishment of schools for the
rehabilitation, and for the vocational and other
training, of young offenders who have not attained the
age of eighteen years and for purposes connected
therewith.
[22ND MAY, 1907]
CHAPTER 11:06
TRAINING SCHOOLS ACT

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Short title.
[4 of 1972]
Interpretation.
[4 of 1972]


Purpose of this
Act.
[4 of 1972]

Specifying and
certifying of
schools.
[4 of 1972]

1. This Act may be cited as the Training Schools Act.
2. In this Act—
“training school” means—
(a) a school established under section
4(1); or
(b) a school certified under section 4(3)
for the purposes of section 3;
“headteacher” means the person responsible for the
administration and management of a school.
3. The purpose of this Act is to provide for the
establishment or the certification of schools, for either sex or
both sexes, for the rehabilitation, and for the vocational and
other training, of young offenders who have not attained the
age of eighteen years.
4. (1) The Minister may by order—
(a) establish a school by declaring any
house, building, enclosure, place or
part thereof to be a school and may in
such order specify the name by which
such school shall be known; or
(b) direct that any school specified under
subsection (l)(a) shall cease to be a
school.
(2) Every school specified under subsection (1)
shall be maintained by moneys provided by Parliament.
(3) The Minister may—

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Saving of
existing
schools.
[8 of 1907
4 of 1972]

Staff of schools.
[4 of 1972]

Appointment
and duties of
official visitors.
[4 of 1972]

Regulations.
[4 of 1972]

(a) pursuant to application made to him
in that behalf by the headteacher
thereof, certify by order that any
institution of the character described
in section 3 and maintained either
wholly or partly by voluntary
contribution shall be a school; or
(b) by order direct that any school
certified under subsection (3)(a) shall
cease to be a school.
5. The school established by the Essequibo Boys’
School Ordinance 1907 is continued as if it were a school
established under section 4(1).
6. The Minister may out of moneys provided by
Parliament provide any school with such staff as he may
consider necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
7. (1) The Minister shall appoint a visiting committee
for each school.
(2) The school shall at all times be open to the
inspection of any member of the National Assembly.
8. The Minister may make regulations—
(a) for the appointment of visiting
committees and the functions of such
committees;
(b) for the proper classification of
inmates;
(c) for the proper instruction, moral and
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Annual report.
[4 of 1972]

Youths guilty
of certain
offences may
be sent to a
school.
[4 of 1972]

Person under
17 who may be
sent to a school.
[4 of 1972]
religious and vocational training, and
rehabilitation of the inmates;
(d) for the establishment of a system of
punishments and awards (including
the award of small money payments);
(e) generally, for the maintenance of
proper discipline, and for the proper
conduct and management of schools.
9. The headteacher shall, in the month of February in
each year, prepare a full report of the working of the school
during the previous year, to be laid before the National
Assembly.
SENDING PERSONS TO SCHOOLS
10. Where a person apparently under the age of
seventeen years is found guilty of an offence punishable in
the case of an adult by imprisonment, the court may order
that such person be sent to a school and to be there detained
in the case where the person is over sixteen years until he
attains the age of eighteen years and in other cases for a
period not less than two years and not more than three years:
Provided that no person shall be so detained beyond the
age of eighteen years.
11. (1) Anyone may bring before a magistrate any
person apparently under the age of seventeen years who
comes within any of the following descriptions:
(a) who is found begging, or receiving
alms (whether actually or under the
pretext of selling or offering for sale
anything), or who is in any street or
public place for the purpose of so
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Refractory
youths may be
sent to a school.
[4 of 1972]

Form of order
of detention.
begging or receiving alms; or
(b) who is found wandering and not
having any home or settled place of
abode, or proper guardianship, or
visible means of subsistence; or
(c) who, either being an orphan or
having a surviving parent who is
undergoing imprisonment, is found
destitute; or
(d) who frequents the company of
reputed thieves.
(2) The magistrate before whom such a person is
brought as coming within one of those descriptions, if from
the evidence he is satisfied of that fact, shall order an inquiry
to be made into the history and circumstances of such person,
and if it is expedient to deal with such person under this Act,
may order such person to be sent to a school:
Provided that in the case of a first offence, if the parent or
guardian of such person appears before the magistrate, and
claims such person, he shall be delivered up to the parent or
guardian on the parent or guardian undertaking in writing to
be responsible for his good behaviour.
12. Where the parent, or step-parent, or guardian, of a
person apparently under the age of seventeen years
represents to a magistrate that he is unable to control such
person, and that he desires that such person be sent to a
school under this Act, the magistrate, if on inquiry he is
satisfied that it is expedient to deal with such person under
this Act, may order such person to be sent to a school.
13. The order of a magistrate sending a person to a
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[4 of 1972]

Effect of order. [3 of 1944
4 of 1972]

Evidence of
order.

Sending
youthful
offenders to a
school.
[4 of 1972]

Removal of
offender to a
school.
[4 of 1972]


Authority for
detaining
offender.
[4 of 1972]
school (in this Act referred to as the order of detention) shall
be in writing, and shall specify the time for which the person
is to be detained in a school, being that time which to the
magistrate seems proper for his teaching and training.
14. The order of detention shall be sent to the
headteacher with the person and shall be sufficient warrant
for the conveyance of the person thither and his detention in a
school.
15. An instrument purporting to be an order of
detention in a school and to be signed by a magistrate, or
purporting to be a copy of that order and to be certified so to
be by the clerk to the magistrate by whom the order was
made, shall be evidence of the order.
16. Where any person who, in the judgment of the
court, is under the age of seventeen years is found guilty of an
offence punishable with imprisonment before the High Court
in its criminal jurisdiction, the Court, instead of awarding a
sentence of imprisonment, may order him to be sent to a
school, and to be there detained in the case where the person
is over sixteen years until he attains the age of eighteen years
and in other cases for a period of not less than two years and
not more than three:
Provided that no person shall be so detained beyond the
age of eighteen years.
17. The keeper of every prison having in his custody
any offender ordered to be sent to a school shall deliver the
offender into the custody of the headteacher, together with
the warrant or other document in pursuance of which the
offender is sent to the school.
18. The possession of the warrant or other document
in pursuance of which an offender is sent to a school shall be
sufficient authority for his detention in the school.
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Saving of
powers under
other Acts.
[4 of 1972]

Penalties for
indiscipline.
[4 of 1972
19 of 2010]

Refusal of girl
in school to
conform to
regulations.


Escape of
person from a
school.
[4 of 1972]
c. 10:03
Assisting
person to
escape from a
school or
harbouring him
after escape.
[4 of 1972]
19. Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to
interfere in any way whatsoever with any power contained in
any other Act empowering the High Court in its criminal
jurisdiction or any magistrate to send any child found guilty
of any offence to a reformatory or other institution.
GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF A SCHOOL
20. (1) Any boy detained in a school who wilfully
refuses or neglects to conform to the regulations thereof, may,
for every offence, be ordered by the headteacher or the person
in charge, to be kept in solitary confinement for a period not
exceeding one day.
(2) Any girl detained in a school who wilfully
refuses or neglects to conform to the regulations thereof, may,
for every offence, be ordered by the headteacher to be kept in
solitary confinement for a period not exceeding one day:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed
as empowering a headteacher to keep a boy or girl in solitary
confinement for more than twenty-four consecutive hours
under any circumstances.
21. Any person ordered to be detained at a school
who escapes therefrom at any time before the expiration of
his period of detention may be apprehended without a
warrant and if the Minister thinks fit, may be then brought
before a magistrate to be dealt with in any manner for the
treatment of juveniles under section 19 of the Juvenile
Offenders Act.
22. Everyone who—
(a) knowingly assists, either directly or
indirectly, any person detained in a
school to escape from the school; or
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Grant of licence
to person to
live out of
school.
[4 of 1972]

(b) directly or indirectly induces a person
to escape from a school; or
(c) knowingly harbours, conceals, or
prevents from returning to a school
any person who has escaped from a
school,
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of nineteen
thousand five hundred dollars.
23. (1) The headteacher may, with the approval of the
Minister, at any time after the expiration of eighteen months
of the period of detention allotted to a person, by licence
under his hand, permit him to live with any trustworthy and
respectable person named in the licence and willing to
receive, teach, train, and take charge of him.
(2) A licence so granted shall not be in force for
more than six months, but may, at any time before the
expiration of those six months, be renewed for a further
period, not exceeding six months, to commence from the
previous period of six months, and so from time to time until
the period of detention of the person has expired.
(3) A licence so granted may also be revoked at
any time by the headteacher, by writing under his hand, with
the approval of the Minister, and thereupon the person to
whom the licence related may be required by him, by writing
under his hand, to return to the school.
(4) The time during which a person is absent from
a school in pursuance of a licence shall, except where the
licence has been forfeited by his misconduct, be deemed to be
part of the time of his detention in the school, and, at the
expiration of the time allowed by the licence, he shall be taken
back to the school.

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Power to
apprentice
person in a
school.
[4 of 1972]


Permission to
reside away
from school or
to be enrolled
in Guyana
Youth Corps.
[4 of 1972
19 of 2010]

(5) Any person who escapes from anyone with
whom he is placed under a licence, or refuses to return to the
school on the revocation of his licence or at the expiration of
the time allowed thereby, shall be deemed to have escaped
from a school, and shall be liable to the same punishment.
24. The headteacher, subject to the regulations from
time to time approved by the Minister, may, with the consent
of the person concerned, bind any person ordered to be
detained in the school as an apprentice to any trade, calling,
or service until he shall complete the age of eighteen years,
notwithstanding that his period of detention has not expired;
and the binding shall be valid and effectual to all intents and
purposes.
25. The headteacher may, with the approval of the
Minister at any time after the expiration of twelve months of
the allotted period of detention and with the consent or
without the consent of his parent, by licence under his hand
permit him to reside away from the school and to live with
any trustworthy or respectable person named in the licence
and willing to receive, train, teach, and take charge of him on
the condition that he attends any educational establishment
or school for technical training, and a licence so granted shall
be subject to the same conditions and regulations as a licence
granted under section 23 of this Act.
MAINTENANCE OF PERSONS IN THE SCHOOL
26. [Repealed by 19 of 2010]
27. [Repealed by 19 of 2010]

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Discharge of
person.
[16 of 1952]


Power of the
Minister to
order dis-
charge of
person.

Use of forms.
Schedule.
Service of
notice.

Evidence as to
person being
detained in a
school.
[4 of 1972]

DISCHARGE OF PERSONS
28. (1) No person ordered to be sent to the school after
attaining the age of thirteen years, who has, to the knowledge
of the headteacher, attained the age of eighteen years, shall be
detained in the school.
(2) No person ordered to be sent to the school
before the age of thirteen years who has, to the knowledge of
the headteacher, attained the age of sixteen years, shall be
detained in the school.
29. The Minister may at any time order any person to
be discharged from the school, either absolutely or on any
conditions the Minister approves, and the person shall be
discharged accordingly.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
30. No summons, notice, or order made for the
purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act shall
be invalidated for want of form only; and the forms contained
in the Schedule, or forms to the like effect, may be used in the
matters to which they refer, with such variations as
circumstances require, and, when used, shall be deemed
sufficient.
31. Service of notice may be made on the headteacher
by delivery of the notice to him personally or by being sent by
post in a letter addressed to him.
32. The production of the warrant or other document
in pursuance of which a person is directed to be sent to the
school, with a statement endorsed thereon or annexed thereto,
purporting to be signed by the headteacher, that the person
mentioned therein is, at the date of the signing thereof
detained in the school, or has been otherwise dealt with
according to law, shall be, in all proceedings relating to that
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Procedure and
appeal.
[4 of 1972]

[4 of 1972]

s.13
c. 11:06

person, evidence of the identity of, and of the due making of
the order and subsequent detention of, the person named in
the warrant or other document.
33. The Acts for the time being in force regulating
procedure before magistrates in the exercise of their summary
jurisdiction and appeals from the decisions of magistrates
shall apply to all offences, payments, and orders in respect of
which jurisdiction is given to a magistrate by this Act, or
which are by this Act directed to be prosecuted, enforced, or
made in a summary manner.
SCHEDULE
FORMS
1.
Order sending person to a Training School
GUYANA.
...................................DISTRICT.
Be it remembered that on the ....................... day of
...............................20........... in pursuance of the Training
Schools Act, I, the undersigned magistrate of the
........................................district, do order that A.B., being a
person apparently of the age of ...................years, and subject
to the provisions of the said Act, be sent to the
.................................. school, and that he be detained there until
the ......................day of .............................20.......
...................................
Magistrate.
_________________