HC bans English-medium schools from charging session fees

The High Court has banned English-medium schools from taking session fees from students graduating to a new class.

The verdict also issued a set of directives including instructions to management committees, the need to place more importance on Bangla, national days and celebrations of culture.

Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Md Badruzzaman passed the order on Thursday after final hearings on two writ petitions over session fees and VAT payment by English school students.

The education ministry will have to publish a notice with the court’s order and send it to all English-medium schools within a month, said Badruddoza Badal, one of the lawyers for the petitioners.

The ministry will have to report back to the court on progress in the implementation of the order every three months.

 The instructions


1. Managing committees must be formed in line with the Registration of Private Schools Ordinance 1962. 
 
2. Guardians’ representatives must be elected in a transparent manner; their voices must be heard.  
 
3. No more backdoor appointment of teachers. They must be appointed on merit through proper screening. Owners of schools must not influence the recruitment of teachers. 
 
4. Schools are no longer allowed to impose so-called session/academic fees on students graduating to the next class. 
 
5. Managing committees will determine admission or tuition fees. Guardians’ opinions must be taken into account. Fees must be published on websites.  
 
6. Schools must publish all audit reports online and guardians must be provided with copies of the reports.  
 
7. Students must be introduced to observances of national days and icons in Bangla literature, such as Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.  
 
8. Students must be introduced to the glorious stories of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh's language and Liberation War martyrs.
 
9. More emphasis on Bangla in classes.