Ceilings to be set for English-medium school fees

A draft regulation setting ceilings for fees charged by Bangladesh’s English-medium schools has been finalised, the High Court has been told.

The Ministry of Education submitted the draft regulation to the court on Monday following a writ petition filed in April this year.

The High Court had asked why it should not order the authorities to have a well-defined regulation to streamline admission, session, and tuition fees charged by schools from play group to A-level courses.

Schools might lose their registration and face legal action if they charge anything beyond the limit set by the government for admission forms and fees, the draft says.

All schools and colleges registered under Ordinance No. 20 of 1962 will be governed by this regulation.

The ministry draft divides English-medium schools into three categories based on their student strength.

It also chalks up separate fee structures for schools in and outside the metropolitan area.

A school with 700 and more students will come under category ‘A’. Those with 400 to 700 will get category ‘B’. A school with less than 400 students will fall under category ‘C’.

An ‘A’-category school can charge a maximum of Tk 3,000 as monthly tuition fee and not more than Tk 30,000 as admission and session fees.

A school located outside the metropolitan area can charge up to Tk 1,500 as tuition fee and Tk 15,000 as combined admission and session charges.

The draft says Tk 2,000 is the maximum a ‘B’-category school can charge as tuition fee and not over Tk 18,000 for admission and session renewal.

If such a school is located outside the metropolitan area, it can take Tk 1,000 as tuition fee and Tk 7,000 towards admission and session charges.

‘C’ category schools inside the city will be able to charge Tk 1,500 as tuition fee and Tk 8,000 for admission and session charges.

The tuition fee ceiling for those located outside is Tk 800 and Tk 4,000 for admission and session charges.

All these institutions must have skilled instructors and provide a secure environment, an adequate infrastructure for studies, proper sanitation, sports equipment and facilities, and uninterrupted power supply.

The draft says a school’s decision-making body must meet before an academic year begins to decide the time for holding admission tests.

The head of the institution must then publicise the number of vacancies. Such notices must appear in national and local newspapers, as well as on websites.

The notice must also mention the dates for the collection and submission of application forms, says the draft.

There must be a gap of at least 15 days between the publication of the notice and the distribution of the forms, it specifies.

The draft also states that schools having websites must make their admission forms available through them in addition to their offices.

Those seeking admission must attach copies of their birth certificates to their applications, the draft says.

The application form of a school within the metropolitan area can cost a maximum of Tk 500, and those outside can charge Tk 300 for them.

Once the submission deadline passes, the schools must at once prepare charts showing the number of forms bought and submitted, and send the details over to the education board.

The schools must, in accordance with the government regulation, have a five percent quota for freedom fighters’ children and two percent for students with disabilities, provided they pass the entry tests.

The petition

The High Court had issued a rule on Apr 23 on fees charged by English-medium schools after one Jabed Faruk moved a petition.

The court asked why it should not order the authorities to make a specific regulation for admission, session and tuition fees taken by schools from play group and up to A-level courses.

Justices Mirza Hussain Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar also asked why a cell should not be formed to monitor fee transactions.

A temporary embargo on readmission and session fees had also been ordered in case of 24 schools, but several of them moved the Appellate Division to have the ban lifted, said the case’s lawyer JR Robin Khan.

“This regulation is applicable to all English-medium schools and colleges in the country. They now charge a lot of money,” Assistant Attorney General KM Masud Rumi told bdnews24.com.

“We’ve also seen media reports about some of them violating the court’s order,” said Rumi of the prosecution.

This is not the first time the High Court has asked the government to bring these schools under a regulation, according to a letter by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education.

A committee was formed on Jan 3, 2013 to formulate the rules following the order.

The case documents say it was that committee which had finalised the regulation called - ‘Private English-medium schools and colleges admission regulation’.