40 percent seats at private schools reserved for local students

Private schools will now give priority to local students for enrolment as the government has set aside 40 percent seats for them across Bangladesh.

The education ministry in an order has also outlined the admission process and fixed the fee.
 
Ministry officials said a separate policy will be later formulated for public schools.
 
Monday's order said 40 percent seats at Dhaka City's private schools would be preserved for students in the 'catchment area'. The rest will be open for all.
 
The catchment area would be determined on the basis of the domicile of a student on the day circulars for school admissions are issued, the ministry said.
 
If there is more than one school in a catchment area, students from that area will be eligible for the ‘quota facility’ in all of them.
 
Headmasters of the schools have also been directed to fix the area with the help of their management committees.
 
Local Upazila education officers would step in if there were any problem in outlining such areas, the circular said.
 
The ministry also urged the stakeholders to be alert so that no area is left outside their catchment areas.

Admission and fees

Schools will admit students in grade-I based on lotteries and publish the waiting lists as well.

The vacant seats will have to be filled up from candidates in the waiting lists.

For grade-II to grade-VIII, the candidates to fill up the vacant seats will be selected through written tests while admission to grade-IX will depend on the JSC or JDC results.

A student must be at least 6-year-old for enrolment in grade-I and will need to submit attested copies of birth registration with the application form.

The school committees will fix the admission test date and time before the beginning of the academic year. However, the Thana or Upazila education officers will fix admission test dates for schools in Dhaka City.

The price of the admission form has been fixed at maximum Tk 200 for private schools in the cities.

Schools in urban areas can charge a maximum of Tk 500 including session fees. The amount is Tk 1,000 for municipal areas and Tk 2,000 for Sadar Upazilas.

The fee has been fixed at Tk 3,000 for metropolises other than Dhaka.

Schools in Dhaka, included in the MPO, can charge highest Tk 5,000 for admission, those who are partially under MPO can charge Tk 8,000 and English medium schools Tk 10,000.

A school can charge re-admission fee from students who have been promoted to next grade after clearing yearly final examinations but cannot charge session fees from them.

The government policy warns against violation of the guidelines, saying the violators will lose the MPO facility and face legal actions.

A five percent quota will have to be reserved for eligible grandchildren of freedom fighters and two percent for the physically challenged.

One percent of the vacant seats will be allocated to eligible candidates from Lillah Boarding while two percent seats have been set aside at Dhaka City schools for children of education ministry officials and employees.

However, there will be no quota for children of teachers, employees and management committee members of schools.

The government has formed three separate admission committees for Dhaka metropolitan, districts and Upazila levels.