(1) The Minister may
do all things necessary or convenient to be done for the purposes of —
(a)
school education; or
(b)
furthering the best interests of students and educational programmes in
government schools; or
(c)
carrying out joint arrangements.
(2) Without limiting
subsection (1) the Minister may for any of the purposes mentioned —
(a)
acquire, hold, manage, improve, develop and dispose of property or an interest
in property; and
(b)
accept any gift, grant, devise or bequest if it is absolute or subject to
conditions to which the Minister agrees; and
(c)
subject to section 217, participate in any business arrangement and acquire,
hold and dispose of shares, units or other interests in, or relating to, a
business arrangement; and
(d)
allow persons to undertake advertising or sponsorship, of the kind and to the
extent that is authorised by regulations, in connection with educational
activities in government schools; and
(e)
enter into any contract or arrangement; and
(f) turn
to account any resource or intellectual property that is vested in the
Minister; and
(g)
apply for, hold, exploit and dispose of any patent, patent rights, design
rights, copyright, trademark or similar rights; and
(h) use
the expertise and resources of the department to provide consultancy, advisory
or other services for profit.
(3) The Minister may
for the purpose of furthering education whether in the government or
non-government schools —
(a) act
as trustee of any trust for educational purposes; or
(b)
grant allowances, awards and scholarships.
(4) In exercising any
power under this section the Minister may act in conjunction with —
(a) any
person or firm, or a public authority; or
(b) any
department of the Public Service or any agency of the State or the
Commonwealth.
(5) An agreement or
arrangement for advertising or sponsorship in relation to a government school
is not to be entered into by the principal of the school acting —
(a) in
exercise of the power conferred by subsection (2)(d); and
(b) as
the subdelegate of the Minister under section 225,
unless the Council for
that school has approved the agreement or arrangement.
(6) In subsection (2)
—
acquire includes taking on lease or licence or in
any other manner in which an interest in property may be acquired;
business arrangement means a company, a
partnership, a trust, a joint venture, or an arrangement for sharing profits;
dispose of includes dispose of by way of lease;
participate includes form, promote, establish,
enter, manage, dissolve, wind up, and do anything incidental to participating
in a business arrangement.
[Section 216 amended: No. 28 of 2014 s. 31; No. 41
of 2016 s. 12.]