Tutoring center fined MOP50,000 over unlicensed services

[Photo; Renato Marques]

The Court of Second Instance (TSI) has upheld a MOP50,000 fine imposed on the head of a local teaching support center for providing services without a valid license.

The case dates to September 2023, when inspectors from the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) visited the center and found a staff member accompanying a kindergarten-age boy who was waiting to be picked up by his parents. At the time, the center’s application for a private supplementary teaching support center license had not yet been approved.

The DSEDJ later determined that the center had provided teaching support services without a valid license, in violation of the city’s private supplementary teaching support center business law. The bureau fined the person in charge MOP50,000, the minimum amount prescribed under the law.

The center head challenged the decision before the Administrative Court, but the appeal was rejected. He subsequently appealed to TSI.

The court found that the authorities had provided sufficient factual grounds for the decision and that the failure to specify the center’s financial benefit did not constitute inadequate reasoning, given that the minimum fine had been imposed.

The TSI dismissed the appeal and upheld the fine.