Abnormal fees imposed on private schools in capital

 

Live Correspondent: At the beginning of this year, Tk 10,000 was collected from each English version student during admission at Motijheel Ideal School and College in the capital. This amount is taken in 24 sectors including law and consultancy, election expenses, gratuity, WASA and gas, prize distribution, diary-syllabus-calendar.

But in some similar sectors, the school has sent SMS to the parents asking them to deposit money again. Apart from this, the tuition fee has been increased without any prior announcement.

An investigation revealed that not only this institution, several other institutions in the capital have increased the tuition fees. Besides, due to the activities of the government supervision committee, the institutions could not collect money from the parents beyond the prescribed rate at the beginning of the year. So, two months later, the trap is now set.

The rise in the prices of daily commodities has already raised the concern of the guardians. In such a situation, the step of charging the child's various fees in the school, especially for the second time in the same sector, has caused extreme anger and dissatisfaction among the parents of the students. They termed the schools' move as 'immoral and hypocritical'.

Directorate of Secondary & Higher Education director general Professor Nehal Ahmed said no school can charge more than the fee set by the government. The DSHE has a monitoring team for the entire country. Action will be taken if specific complaints are received, he added.

Concerned persons alleged that Ideal School in Banasree branch charged Tk 600 for diaries, syllabus, calendars and WASA in the beginning of the year for English version.

Now Tk 950 have been demanded in the same sector. Mentioning 23 sectors, after collecting the money, finding nothing else and creating a 'miscellaneous' sector, Tk 215 were taken per student. But now again Tk 1000 have been demanded for magazine, poor fund, report card, farewell program and national festival. Parents are objecting, how they can collect Tk 300 for the report card.

The school faced lawsuits due to various decisions. The cost of that case has also been imposed on the parents of the students. Tk 80 has been levied in this sector. Tk 24 lakh is collected here from 30,000 students.

A parent alleged that the institution has increased the tuition fee by Tk 100. 30 lakh will be collected from 30,000 students in this sector. And in the case of collection in different sectors, receipt of money is given only at the time of first admission. Since then it has been taken by Rocket, which does not provide any documents. However, it was not possible to talk to the principal of the institution, Fawzia Rashedi, despite contacting in this regard.

Similar allegations have been made against Wills Little Flower School. At the beginning of the year, Tk 8,000 and Tk 10,000 are taken from the students of Bengali and English version respectively. They did not mention the sectors of those collecting. Now, Tk 300 per student is charged for souvenirs in March first.

Within a month, apart from tuition and examination fees, money is being collected in 19 other sectors. Parents now have to pay Tk 2870 in this sector. If the payment is not made within two months, the admission will be canceled as mentioned in the school fee receipt. After that, in case of re-admission, another 1,500 will have to be paid.

ANM Shamsul Alam Khan, acting principal of the institution, said that at the time of admission, they took fees as per government instructions. Sectors where money could not be taken are now being taken. ‘We are taking the same way as other schools like Vikarunnisa, Ideal are taking’, he added.

Ziaul Kabir Dulu, chairman of the Guardians' Unity Forum, said that some miscreants are sitting in the management committee of some educational institutions in the capital. They have chosen institutions as their source of illegal income. Guardians will not be saved if the government especially the Ministry of Education is not sincere.

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