Controversy over tuition fees in English medium education

Dr Md Mahmudul Hassan :

According to Banbeis statistics, the number of English medium schools recognized by the Board of Education under the Bangladesh Ministry of Education is about 350, where there are about 2.5 lac students.

However, according to Bangladesh Kindergarten Owners Association, there are about 2000 English medium kindergarten schools in the country, where the number of students is about 4.5 lacs.

The interest of students and parents towards English medium education is constantly increasing, though the students of our country are divided into three mainstreams of education.

According to a statistic of 2018, the percentage of English medium students among all the students in Bangladesh was only 5 per cent to 7 per cent and now its rate has increased to about 25 per cent.

So, English Medium education is now the most demanding education stream in our country.

The question has arisen, whether education is served through English medium or done only for commercial purposes; they view that money is the only means of education. In the press briefings reported in various national newspapers, a private organization called the English Medium Parents Forum made various comments about the tuition fees of English medium schools, which I found to be quite exaggerated and unreasonable.

An analysis shows that among the mainstream educational programs in our country, the English medium curriculum is the most up-to-date, appropriate and of internationally recognized standards.

So it is normal that the study cost in this medium will be higher.

It is not at all unreasonable that the tuition fee is higher than the national curriculum to meet the desire to acquire appropriate skill-based education in the foreign curriculum from the country.

Meaningless to say that in other education systems of the country, the cost of ensuring quality education is very low.

Cadet colleges are considered to be the best educational institutions in our country and the education there is considered to be of the highest standard of proper education, although there are many other good educational institutions in Bangladesh.

There is no doubt that the cost of education in these schools and colleges is so high that many English medium educational institutions do not have it.

However, in most of the English medium schools in our country, the monthly tuition fee is only between 6 to 15 thousand taka, although a few take a little more money, they must have a valid reason behind taking it.

In reality, the cost of English medium school education is not unreasonable at all.

Some of its rationales are explained below:
1. The English medium school curriculum is of international standard, its book printing standards, content development, quality syllabi and advanced teaching and learning methods are globally recognized, which cost much more than other traditional schools.

2. Here aptitude assessment test, mock test, exam hall management system, answer sheet checking and board final examination process are specially conducted, which is quite costly.

3. Professional training provided for teaching quality control and skill development of teachers in English medium is quite expensive.

A lot of money is spent on teachers to improve the quality of education, which is not done in other streams of education.

4. Providing students with an improved environment, comfortable classrooms, sitting chairs-tables, round-the-clock air-conditioned school premises, teaching aids, smartboards, modern equipment of science labs and other learning materials is undoubtedly more expensive and cost-effective than other schools in the country.

5. The study cost of English medium schools increases manifold considering the location, surroundings, infrastructure, attractive buildings, ensuring a healthy environment and facilities provided to the students.

For instance, the expenses of the institutions which are located in the elite areas of the capital, and the expenses of any institution located in other places of Dhaka or divisional cities cannot be equal in any way.

The cost of educational institutions in elite areas of the capital must be high.

6. Apart from celebrating national culture and traditional events, the programs organized on the theme of various national and world days to maintain international standards are different from other education systems and are very expensive.

7. The way extra-curricular activities are conducted in English medium schools is undoubtedly costly.

Here, as part of indoor and outdoor activities, multi-dimensional creative activities organized by club-based students are surely required to meet the expenses.

Besides, most of the English medium schools celebrate their big events in some famous hotels rented by spending huge amounts of money.

Besides, their sporting events also have to be completed by renting large fields in the city.

8. English Medium Schools teach students multiple languages as a third language, which other streams of education do not have the opportunity to learn, in addition to improving their communication skills in English to make them world-class.

Teachers in multilingual education are highly paid.

9. In this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), students are taught to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) declared by the United Nations in such a way that they can prepare themselves as qualified candidates for higher education abroad after completing their education from English medium.

Students are taught with leadership qualities, entrepreneurship training, physical fitness and other dimensional attributes in this English medium curriculum.

10. The pay structure of Principals, Teachers, Officers and employees involved in the management of English medium schools is much better than the pay structure of other educational institutions.

Here the teacher-student ratio is 1:10; hence the education is modernized by hiring more teachers and spending a lot of money behind it.

11. English medium schools pay special emphasis on the development of skills required to prepare students as competent candidates to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Collaboration is also enhanced through exchange programs for students in different countries to improve the ability of students to compete in the international arena.

As a result, they do not have to face any problem later on to get higher education abroad.

Also, since school life improves their communication skills, it becomes easier for them to achieve much success in the career world.

And thus English medium schools have to allocate a lot of budget to prepare for them.

Above all, most of the economically well-off parents in our country want their children to go abroad for higher education.

They choose English medium as their advanced mode of education.

It is a proven fact that the journey abroad is much easier for those students who pass O’ Level and A’ Level from English Medium Schools.

So, analyzing the above mentioned logical approaches, it is easy to understand that the tuition and admission fees of English Medium Schools are not much at all, rather reasonable.

(The writer is Principal, Daffodil International School, Dhaka).