Own Correspondent: As always, this time also the admission business has started in the private schools of Chittagong. Ignoring the instructions of the Ministry of Education, several times more admission fees are being charged in various schools. According to Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), an organization protecting the interests of consumers, complaints have been received, admission, re-admission fees and tuition fees have been doubled in various autonomous schools including Chittagong City Corporation, Chittagong Development Authority, Chittagong Port Authority, along with private schools. According to the instructions of the Ministry of Education, the maximum admission fee of Tk 3,000 is supposed to be charged, but Bangladesh Mahila Samity High School of Chittagong has been instructed to pay Tk 11,000.
Apart from this, the instructions of the Ministry of Education are not being followed in filling the form of the 2023 SSC candidates. The government has set a maximum of Tk 2,140 for the science department, but the CDA Public School and College Authority managed by Chittagong Development Authority has ordered to pay Tk 4,530.
The aggrieved parents have demanded strict action against the educational institutes collecting extra money and effective measures to stop admission-trading in private educational institutes. They told the media that due to the Corona situation and the global economic recession, people are already struggling to run their families. There is more than twice the form filling fee in SSC and the situation is like a sore on the back of the low income families while paying various types of fees by showing different sectors. They urged the public representatives and the administration to be more active in this regard.
CAB Central Committee Vice President SM Najer Hossain told the media that admission coaching business has started since December. Again, coaching is going on along with regular classes in government schools. District Education Office, Board of Education and Education Administration are not monitoring these. Again, in private educational institutions, some leaders of the ruling party have been made the president of the school management committee, but they are also not able to take any steps to stop the irregularities.
