Staff Reporter :
The government on Wednesday asked all non-government secondary schools and colleges (MPO and Non-MPO) not to collect readmission, development, assignment, tiffin, laboratory, library and magazine fees from students of the coronavirus period.
If the schools had already collected the said fees, the school authorities should adjust the amount with monthly tuition fees, a circular of Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) said, adding that schools can take monthly tuition fees only from students.
It also said that if the Covid-19 situation does not improve in 2021, schools will not be allowed to take the mentioned fees from students. The notice came when the institutions have also been charging all kinds of fees from the students. The guardians and the students staged demonstration in different schools across the country.
A guardian from Monipur Schools and College said, ‘my daughter is a first grade student. I had to pay Tk 5,000 for June, July, August and September tuition fees. But the school authority charged additional Tk 200 for ICT, Tk 200 for online home test and Tk 400 for repairs and maintenance.
Like Monipur School and College, other institutions also have charged the guardians. As a result few guardians protested and held rallies.
“This will free guardians from financial burden,” DSHE Director Belal Hossain told the media.
He said that most of these fees were collected when the students enrolled themselves at the beginning of academic year. “That is why we asked them (school authorities) to adjust with monthly tuition fees,” he said.
The circular came when classes of schools remain closed since March 17 and closure has been extended till December 19.
The DSHE circular said that there was difference of opinion among guardians and school authorities regarding the collection of tuition fees during the pandemic.
According to the notice, the educational institutions will consider the tuition fees also if any guardian is unable to pay this.
It also asked the guardians to consider the schools’ operational costs.
