Bring to book all schools that are taking above what is permitted
Every family, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, dreams that their children will receive education, but since the cost of education has risen greatly in recent times, particularly during this present inflation, most families have found it hard to bear the cost of education. For the middle class people, buying study materials and books have become unbearable. Added to this is the burden of additional admission and tuition fees. In recent days, even for monthly exams of pre-primary and primary students, private schools in the capital are charging high fees.
Over the years, it has become a practice among the most non-government and private educational institutions to take admission fees of their own students when they go to a new class. These educational institutions are acting more like business centres where all students have to be readmitted on year end. Moreover, the education ministry’s fixed amount of admission fee is also not followed by many schools and colleges. They take much more.
While these kinds of irregularities have been prevailing making education costly for most families, the increased cost of study materials has hit all people, excepting the few rich ones. At this time of economic crisis when it has become difficult for many to make ends meet, this situation has already reportedly pushed many poor families to stop sending their children to schools altogether. As a result, early marriages among the poor families in rural areas are occurring.
It is really sad that the education ministry could not enforce its binding rule upon the private and non government educational institutions regarding the admission fees. When it has been fixed by the education ministry that schools cannot charge more than Tk 5000 for admission, many schools in the capital are reportedly taking about Tk 10,000 to 12,000.
It is still more worrying that the non-government schools that receive the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) grant from the government are charging higher tuition fees besides the increased admission fee. For middle class people, let alone the poor people, maintaining lives has now become an uphill task. We ask the education ministry to bring to book all schools that are taking more money from the students than what is permitted or reasonable.
