M M Jasim :The government has asked the non-government schools, colleges, madrasas and vocational institutions not to increase the tuition fees by more than 30 percent. It has also taken the decision that the students will not pay establishment cost, session charges and development fees. The Education Ministry issued the notice on Tuesday and requested all the institutions to comply with the directive. The decision followed the students and guardians’ protest against increasing of tuition fees by 100 percent by some educational institutions. Meanwhile, the students and the guardians hailed the government’s decision about tuitions fees and hoped that the order would be executed. They said that the government took such decision in the past but rare was implemented. They also recommended forming a committee to monitor all the activities of the schools. Rakibul Hasan Chowdhury, a guardian, told The New Nation, “I congratulate the government’s decision for fixing increase of the tuition fees. At the same time the government should take initiative to stop the educational institutions’ malpractice in increasing the tuition and other fees.” “My son is a student of Class-V of Willes Little Flower School and College. The school authorities increased the tuition fees whimsically. Even they did not discuss with the guardians. After the guardians’ protest against it, the government served show cause notices on 1209 institutions and asked them as to why punishment should not be taken against them. But no punishment appeared visible in the past,” he said. Yeasmin Mushtari, a guardian, said, “Her daughter reads in Class VI at Viqarunnisa Noon School. The school authorities run the school as per their own decision. So it is high time to form a committee to monitor the schools, colleges and madrasas’ activities and check the irregularities. If the government does this, the new direction will be implemented.”Earlier on January 17 this year, the government directed educational institutions to stop collecting hiked fees from students, as most private schools in Dhaka increased the fees by a huge margin. “All institutions concerned have been directed to stop collection of the increased tuition and other fees until further notice,” the education ministry said in a notice this afternoon.It added that the government will immediately issue a necessary guideline to this end. In the absence of a specific guideline on monthly tuition fees, most of the renowned private schools in Dhaka increased the fees of the students by a huge margin.The schools of repute increase the tuition fees almost every year, citing rise in maintenance and other costs.But this year, the institutions hiked the fees by 50 to 100 percent and they used the increases in public servants’ salaries as an excuse.Protesting this, guardians have staged demonstrations, formed human chains and observed sit-ins in the past two weeks, but the schools had not budged from their decisions.Among the Dhaka-based schools that hiked the fees most are Willes Little Flower School and College, Viqarunnisa Noon School, Udayan Higher Secondary School and College, BIAM Model School and College, Mohammadpur Preparatory Higher Secondary Girls’ School and College, Shaheed Police Smrity School and College, Shaheed Bir Uttam Lt Anwar Girls’ School and College, and Bangladesh Bank High School and College. Similar move by 46 schools run by Chittagong City Corporation and the Navy School and College have also met protests.In view of the movement of the students and the guardians, the Education Ministry served show-cause notices on 1,209 educational institutions, including many top ranking ones, for not responding to the ministry over the allegation of taking extra fees. The notices issued on February 25 asked the school authorities to submit their explanation within 30 days for charging extra fees from students in registration for SSC examinations. But neither the schools gave the answer to the notices nor the government took any action against the institutions.
