Ideally speaking, in the current Bangladesh perspective, VAT should not be introduced at all on private educational institutions

VAT on private universities

We welcome the rule issued by the High Court that asked the government to explain its decision to impose a 7.5 per cent VAT on medical colleges and engineering colleges or universities, because this is not only discriminatory---the public university students do not have to pay huge tuition fees---but it also goes against the very idea for which the government finally decided to allow the private universities or tertiary education centres to flourish in the country. As the seats in the public universities were very limited---they still are---and each year many students scoring brilliant results in the SSC and HSC could not get opportunities there to pursue education, the policy makers allowed establishment of private universities.
Thanks to these institutions, meritorious students, poor or rich alike, now are having graduate degrees on mostly job-oriented subjects. The imposition of 7.5 per cent VAT on private education will surely make things difficult especially for those students who are not from well-off families. It is true that many of the private universities and colleges are earning profit and are flourishing as educational institutions, but taxing the students for it is not fair on the ground that are already mentioned.
The finance minister actually proposed a 10 per cent VAT, but at the request from the Prime Minister, he finally reduced it to 7.5 per cent, a sum which is still heavy if we at all agree on the issue that VAT can be imposed. In 2010, the government imposed a 4.5 per cent VAT on this stream of education but was forced to cancel the move because of the protests from the students. It was taken for granted that the universities would pass on the burden of paying VAT by taking higher fees from students.
Now the students filed writ petition and the High Court was very right to issue the present rule. The fact of the matter is the arguments against the imposition of VAT are still valid and the finance minister must again do the right thing by withdrawing his decision of VAT on private university education. According to the Private University Act 2010, these tertiary educational institutions at the private level are not intended to operate optimally as profit-making organizations.
Now if the government starts taking VAT from these universities, their commercialisation of education will be given a legal cover. It will not bode well for the future of private university education as this would openly encourage these universities to earn more and more money on the plea of giving out more taxes. Ideally speaking, in the current Bangladesh perspective, VAT should not be introduced at all on private educational institutions.

Ideally speaking, in the current Bangladesh perspective, VAT should not be introduced at all on private educational institutions

VAT on private universities

We welcome the rule issued by the High Court that asked the government to explain its decision to impose a 7.5 per cent VAT on medical colleges and engineering colleges or universities, because this is not only discriminatory---the public university students do not have to pay huge tuition fees---but it also goes against the very idea for which the government finally decided to allow the private universities or tertiary education centres to flourish in the country. As the seats in the public universities were very limited---they still are---and each year many students scoring brilliant results in the SSC and HSC could not get opportunities there to pursue education, the policy makers allowed establishment of private universities. Thanks to these institutions, meritorious students, poor or rich alike, now are having graduate degrees on mostly job-oriented subjects. The imposition of 7.5 per cent VAT on private education will surely make things difficult especially for those students who are not from well-off families. It is true that many of the private universities and colleges are earning profit and are flourishing as educational institutions, but taxing the students for it is not fair on the ground that are already mentioned. The finance minister actually proposed a 10 per cent VAT, but at the request from the Prime Minister, he finally reduced it to 7.5 per cent, a sum which is still heavy if we at all agree on the issue that VAT can be imposed. In 2010, the government imposed a 4.5 per cent VAT on this stream of education but was forced to cancel the move because of the protests from the students. It was taken for granted that the universities would pass on the burden of paying VAT by taking higher fees from students. Now the students filed writ petition and the High Court was very right to issue the present rule. The fact of the matter is the arguments against the imposition of VAT are still valid and the finance minister must again do the right thing by withdrawing his decision of VAT on private university education. According to the Private University Act 2010, these tertiary educational institutions at the private level are not intended to operate optimally as profit-making organizations. Now if the government starts taking VAT from these universities, their commercialisation of education will be given a legal cover. It will not bode well for the future of private university education as this would openly encourage these universities to earn more and more money on the plea of giving out more taxes. Ideally speaking, in the current Bangladesh perspective, VAT should not be introduced at all on private educational institutions.