There is unrest among guardians of students of various renowned schools in the capital, as these schools are reportedly charging exorbitant tuition fees across classes this year. Aggrieved guardians have claimed that some 40 Monthly Pay Order (MPO)-listed schools out of about 400 educational institutions in the capital are charging fees without any prior notice in the absence of proper guidelines in the admission policy. With the government having no control over tuition fees in the MPO-listed schools where nearly 30 lakh children study, school authorities are taking advantage of the situation and charging excessive fees, as per their whims and fancies, guardians alleged. They claimed that while tuition fees increase every year, this year, it's almost double the amount without any prior notice from school authorities, putting guardians in a tight spot, financially. They said despite repeatedly bringing the matter to the notice of school authorities, nothing has been done about it. On the contrary, it is the schools which say that they are charging just a tad higher fees to meet various expenses of these institutions. The guardians have even staged programmes including human chains and press conferences but the authorities seem reluctant to pay heed to their demand for reducing tuition fees. Left with no other option, guardians have now decided to stage different programmes in front of different schools in the capital on Sunday to demand withdrawal of excessive fees.
It is learnt that Willes Little Flower School and College has almost doubled tuition fees for Class I to Class IX. Earlier monthly fee for Class I was Tk. 1,300 which has been raised to Tk. 2,100. Similarly, the monthly fee for Class VI is up to Tk. 2,550 from the previous Tk. 1,550 and that for Class IX has been increased from Tk. 1,550 to Tk. 2,650. Viqarunnisa Noon School and College has increased monthly fee for Class I from Tk. 800 to Tk. 1,500; monthly fee for Class II to Class VI from Tk. 800 to Tk. 1,600; and monthly fee for Class VII to Class X from Tk. 900 to Tk. 2,200. The admission fee for Class I in Khilgaon National Ideal School has been fixed at Tk. 18,660 while the monthly fee for Class I to Class IX has been raised to Tk. 100 to Tk. 2,200 from last year’s Tk. 500 to Tk. 1,200. Monthly fee for Class I to Class IX of Udayan Higher Secondary School Dhaka have been raised to Tk. 800
to Tk. 1,200 from last year’s Tk. 400 to Tk. 900. Besides, other schools in the capital including Mohammadpur Preparatory Higher Secondary School, Shaheed Police Smriti School, Bangladesh Bank Adarsha Uchcha Biddalaya and Gendaria High School are charging 50 to 100 per cent higher fees.
Schools like Residential Model School and College, Saint Joseph High School, National Ideal School, Siddeshwari Uchcha Balika Bidyalaya and Junior Laboratory School are charging 20 to 50 per cent higher fees. Despite having increased fees in August last year, Matijeel Ideal School and College has once again increased monthly tuition fee for every class by Tk. 100 while admission fee has been raised by Tk. 1,000. On the other hand, the monthly fee of KG class of kindergarten schools has been increased to Tk. 2,000 from the previous Tk 1,500. At Milestone School and College, the monthly fee has been increased to Tk. 2,200 from the former Tk. 1,600. Monthly fee of different classes at Junior Laboratory High School has been increased by Tk. 500. Defending the increase in fees, heads of different educational institutions said that as the salary of teachers listed under the facility of Monthly Pay Order (MPO) has been doubled due to the eighth national pay-scale, the salary of non-MPO teachers has to also be doubled. The percentage of MPO-listed teachers is not more than 10 per cent while the rest of teachers are non-MPO listed.
The heads of institutions said that the fees of students have been increased to provide for the additional salary of teachers. “The fees have been increased to provide the additional salary of teachers to face the new pay scale. There is no other way. We have only increased 49.67 per cent overall fees because of the growing cost. Still, we have a shortage of 10 per cent of it,” said Acting Principal of Willes Little Flower School and College, Abul Hossain. Meanwhile, President of Abhibhabak Oikya Forum (a guardians’ association), Ziaul Karim Dulu, said that renowned schools in the capital are charging whimsical tuition fees in the absence of proper guidelines in the admission policy. “The government should fix the fee in the admission policy to stop it. As the admission policy is formulated every year, the government can also take a decision about tuition fees if necessary to stop such practice of private institutions,” he told The Independent. Ziaul said that guardians have decided to stage demonstrations in the streets from Sunday to demand withdrawal of additional fees. Besides, the Communist Party of Bangladesh has also demanded immediate withdrawal of exorbitant tuition fees and the students union has announced protest programmes across the country on January 19 to demand withdrawal of such astronomical fees.