Cracks show among students protesting VAT on tuition fees after NBR clarification

A group of students have decided to persist with their agitation against VAT on tuition fees even after the NBR clarified that private universities, not they, will have to pay it.

Many students, however, said they felt assured by the NBR clarification.

They announced after Thursday’s daylong protests they would call off the demonstrations.

When the students took to the streets crippling capital Dhaka, the NBR issued the statement, adding there was ‘no scope’ to hike tuition fees.  

But spokesperson for ‘No VAT on Education’ campaign Faruq Ahmad Arif rejected the NBR clarification.

He told bdnews24.com: “We are demanding the withdrawal of VAT on education. So, it’s not important who is paying it. There cannot be any VAT on learning.”

Students had objected when a 7.5 percent VAT on private universities was proposed in the budget for the 2015-16 fiscal.

They said it reflected a mindset that treated education as a commodity.

After several demonstrations, police charge baton and fired rubber bullets on East West University students, who had blocked a street at Rampura on Wednesday.

On Thursday, students of several universities besieged key roads in Dhaka.

A leader of the movement, State University student ‘Arif’, demanded a judicial probe into the police action.

“Our demonstration will continue if the demands are not met. We’ll take up position tomorrow (Friday) at 10am at the points in Dhaka where we demonstrated today (Thursday),” he said.

Though their movement is called ‘No VAT on Education’, combined action by the students of all private universities seemed to be missing.

The demonstration in the Dhanmondi, led by some students from the campaign, continued even after the NBR statement in the afternoon.

A group of demonstrators at the Dhanmondi 27 intersection decided to lift the blockade at around 8:30pm.

Another group objected.

The rival groups of students clashed following an altercation, bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent Liton Haider said.

Police stood by and watched at that time.

After the clash, some vehicles began moving towards Mirpur through that street. But traffic came to a halt again within five minutes when a group of the students returned and occupied the road.

Half an hour later, another group chased them away.

After the NBR clarification, BRAC University told the students that they would pay the VAT.

They also said they would refund the students who had already paid the tax.

The protesters then lifted blockade on the Gulshan-Mohakhali street.

East West University students also cleared the street at Badda at around 5:30pm.

One of them, Mohammad Raihan, said they left when Registrar Ishfaq Elahi Chowdhury told them that the students would not have to pay any additional fee.

Some of the students of the university, however, decided to continue with demonstration on Friday.

North South University student Habibul Hasan said they left the street at Norda at around 6:30pm when the authorities gave them a similar assurance.

Left-leaning Bangladesh Chhatra Federation has called a strike at all private universities for Sunday to push the demand for the withdrawal of VAT on higher education.