Keep your private school compliant!

As most may know, private schools are different from public schools. There are almost two thousand private schools across Canada – all of which are unique. These schools may have a different focus area as part of their educational system, such as specialty skills. In addition, different provinces and regions categorise these schools differently and have different regulatory requirements for them. In order for a private school to retain its status as an innovator and to continue accepting students, it is vital that it follows regulatory requirements to the letter of the law.

Although this is a complex subject, Ricoh can help make it easy. 

When deciding how to approach this problem, the first thing that needs to be considered is your local laws. Let’s take Ontario as an example. In the words of the Ontario Ministry of Education:

“In Ontario, private schools operate as businesses or non-profit organisations independently of the Ministry of Education and in accordance with the legal requirements established by the Education Act. Unlike private schools in other provinces, they do not receive any funding or other financial support from the government.

While all private schools in Ontario must meet the same general requirements, additional requirements are imposed on private schools seeking the authority to grant credits toward the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).

The Ministry does not regulate, license, accredit or otherwise oversee the operation of private schools.”

This means that, in Ontario, private schools have to act in accordance with the Education Act, and other additional requirements, if they are secondary schools. This may not be the case in other provinces, where private schools have to conform to more or less stricter standards. 

At Ricoh, we have a team of experts who are aware of the nuances of the laws regarding educational institutions across Canada. Unlike other solution providers, we carefully design our solutions with these nuances in mind.

Additionally, we have a team of business consultants who can work with your particular private school to find out the exact requirements you must meet. Working together, we develop the best solutions for your unique situation. We know that compliance violations are expensive and hurt your school’s image. We want to make sure this isn’t a worry.

Our solutions: 

• Have retention requirements baked into them.This means that records can’t be deleted before the mandated retention period is up. 
• Reduce the need for paper documents and the associated costs and dangers. We have extremely secure digital systems, which provide many additional benefits, including a mobile-friendly interface. As documents are stored digitally, they are much easier to search and retrieve when needed. It also can be a security against loss of documents or data during natural disasters.
• Include automated business processes, which greatly cut down on manual labour. Coupled with alerts for time-sensitive matters, such automation greatly speeds up processes, ensuring you never miss mandated deadlines. 
• Are eminently scalable, meaning you only pay for the space that you use. We know how important a tight budget is to private schools and are sensitive to this fact.

In addition to these benefits, Ricoh has won numerous national and international awards for our environment friendly processes. By working with us, you can cultivate an image as an environmentally conscious school, which can help bolster your public persona.