Muhith plans to raise fees at public universities, medical colleges

Finance Minister AMA Muhith says he plans to raise tuition fees at public universities and medical colleges by five times.

He was speaking at a pre-budget discussion with representatives of NGOs at the NEC conference room in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Thursday.

"Now the fees at the post-secondary educational institutions are very low," Muhith observed.

"The tuition fees at the government institutions, especially medical colleges and universities where the fees are between Tk 12 and Tk 20 a month, will be raised by five times in the next budget (for fiscal 2017-18)," he said.

The finance minister also said he wanted to erase bidi from Bangladesh in two years. 

"Bidi poses a higher threat to public health. So it should be banished from the country," he said.

"But I have doubts whether I will be able to do it."

"There are pressure groups. More than half of the MPs support bidi. I don't know why."