Government gives schools, colleges seven days to refund extra fees charged

The government has set a deadline for private schools and colleges to refund the extra fees they had earlier charged from students.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 3 Feb 2016, 06:27 AM
Updated : 3 Feb 2016, 09:53 AM

They will have to return the extra amount within seven days, starting Thursday, and inform the authorities, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said on Wednesday.

Most private schools and colleges in Dhaka and Chittagong enhanced tuition and admission fees at the beginning of this year, justifying their action on the plea of the recent hike in the pay scale of government employees.

In the wake of the howls of protests by students and parents, the ministry issued an order on Jan 17, instructing educational institutions not to charge enhanced fees.

It said that several schools and colleges had hiked tuition and other fees without the government’s approval.

The governing bodies of the institutions have been told to follow government instructions contained in the guidelines of the secondary and higher secondary educational boards.

“In this context, all institutions are being instructed to stop charging increased tuition fees until further notice from the government,” the order read.

In December last year, a High Court order instructed the authorities to initiate steps against schools that charged extra money to register students for Secondary School Certificate exams.