Students and parents have been left confused as the government is yet to issue an order, notification, or provision on “backlogged fees” being whimsically charged by some government and private colleges for admission to class XI.
Every year, the academic session at the higher secondary level starts in July. However, there have been exceptions since early 2020, when the country's educational institutions were closed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Even though some of the academic sessions failed to start on time, some educational institutions have been insistent on charging fees from when the session was supposed to begin rather than when it actually began.
This year's SSC and equivalent exams for the 2022-23 session under eleven boards, including madrasa (Dakhil) and technical education boards, started on September 15. The results were published on November 28.
Teachers at private and government colleges said they were charging fees as per the government's admission fee guidelines and urged the authorities to clarify the matter as soon as possible.
Joni Gomez, a teacher at Notre Dame College, said: “We are taking academic session charges from July to June next year. This year's academic session has been delayed, but we will not take extra charges.”
He added that a lack of directives from the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) was at the root of the confusion.
Prof Shaikh Ekramul Kabir, a member of the Education Policy 2010 formulating committee, said there were no backlogged charges and academic session fees were calculated from July.
DSHE Director (College & Administration Wing) Prof. Md. Shahedul Khabir Chowdhury told this reporter they were yet to make any provision regarding the session fee issue.
“Late start of academic activities is new, so no guidance has been given in advance,” he said.
“The matter is under discussion and a decision will be taken. College authorities should have reported the delays to the education board concerned,” he added.
The DSHE director also stressed that any institution that charges fees outside the rules would face legal action, including de-registration of the institution.
The cost of education
According to the Class XI admission policy for 2022, the maximum session fees for MPO-listed Bangla and English medium government colleges in the Dhaka metropolitan area is Tk5,000, as compared to Tk3,000 for metropolitan areas other than Dhaka, Tk2,000 in districts, and Tk1,500 in upazila-level colleges.
For non-MPO and partial-MPO colleges, the session charge is Tk7,500 for Bangla medium colleges and Tk8,500 for English medium colleges in the Dhaka metropolitan area, Tk5,000 for Bangla- and Tk6,000 for English-medium colleges in metropolitan cities other than Dhaka, Tk3,000 for Bangla- and Tk4,000 for English-medium colleges at the district level, and Tk2,500 for Bangla- and Tk3,000 for English-medium colleges in rural areas.
Government colleges will only take charges following the government circular under the education board concerned, said Md.Wahiduzzaman, deputy director of the Government College Section of DSHE.
Monitoring committee to prevent extra charges
On December 21, the Education Ministry formed monitoring committees to prevent the charging of extra admission and readmission fees at different schools and colleges across the country.
The committees have already visited a number of educational institutions to check whether the authorities concerned are taking admission fees, development fees and others for the 2023 session following the admission policy of the ministry.
Besides, 16 monitoring committees formed by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, eight divisional committees in Dhaka Metropolitan area, 55 district monitoring committees and upazila monitoring committees are also visiting educational institutions to check any violation of the government policy.