After students, private university owners ask government to revoke VAT on tuition fees

Private university owners have asked the government to roll back the VAT imposed on tuition fees.

Bangladesh Private University Association made the demand at an emergency meeting on Friday amid student protest.

“We request the prime minister and the finance minister to reconsider it,” the association’s President Sheikh Kabir Hossain said.

“If VAT is imposed it will ultimately be raised from students’ tuition fees. Otherwise how will we pay it?” he added.

The students have been demonstrating since the government slapped the 7.5 percent value-added tax on private universities and medical and engineering colleges in the budget for 2015-16 fiscal.

On Thursday, they blocked key streets in Dhaka after police charged baton and fired rubber bullets on demonstrating students of East West University the day before.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Thursday afternoon issued a statement saying the authorities, not the students, will pay the VAT.

The BNP dubbed the clarification as ‘eyewash’, though the NBR said there was ‘no scope to hike the fee’.

On Friday, the platform, ‘No VAT on Education’, announced a three-day strike at all private universities starting from Saturday.

Fareast International University Trustee Board Chairman Hossain after the meeting said: “The government said students will not have to pay for the VAT. But then who will pay the VAT imposed in the budget?”

He said private universities function under trustee board.

“They do the spending. But the budget and the NBR kept them out of the purview of the VAT,” he said.

“As the matter is related with the NBR, we’ll discuss it with them. Then the final decision will be taken,” he added.

Hossain also said the student agitation blocking streets was not justified.

“If they continue the movement in this way, their study will be hampered and the universities will get stuck on session jam,” he said.

Awami League stalwart Suranjit Sengupta, earlier in the day, slammed private university owners alleging they masterminded the student agitation for withdrawal of VAT on tuition fees for their own gains.

“Although the owners declare it as a non-profit venture during application for licence, it does not stay that way later on,” he said.