The Education Board will take strict measures, on evidence, against those schools charging more than the board-stipulated fees from candidates for the upcoming Secondary School Certificate (SCC) exams. At first, the Education Board Authority will ask the headmaster and president of the school managing committee to verify the allegations.
Coordinator of Inter Education Board and the Chairman of Dhaka Education Board Prof M Ziaul Haque confirmed this on Monday. Ziaul Haque said, “We have been monitoring schools in our own way. We are calling those school authorities against whom we are finding allegations of taking extra fee. We called two schools yesterday. But, we did not find any evidence of charging extra fees. If we get allegations with relative evidence, we will take measures against the school authorities.”
Ziaul Haque said, no one has been able to give evidence against any of the accused schools so far. However, many students and parents told Bangladesh Post that the statement of the Dhaka Education Board chairman is ‘not true’, saying that there was no evidence of charging high amount of money against the schools as they did not give any receipt.
According to media reports, different schools at Akhaura upazila in Brahmanbaria district have been taking the highest charges to fill the SSC form. On condition of anonymity, the students said, the schools were being forced to pay extra money (more than Thousand) than board-stipulated fees from the students in the name of coaching fees, arrears and others. However, most schools are not giving receipts against these collections of money.
The allegations of taking extra fees have been found against Bangladesh Railway Government High School, Khorampur Shah Pir Kolla Shahid High School, Amodabad Alhaj Shah Alam High School, Nasrin Nabi Pilot Girls High School, Debgram Government Pilot High School and Mogra High School. Apart from this, allegations were also found against some schools of Feni district.
About the allegations, Comilla Education Board Chairman Md Abdus Salam said, “We did not find any allegation of taking extra fee. If anyone makes any allegation to the Board, we will definitely take action against the school authority. We will not tolerate any wrongdoing with the students.”
However, Akhaora Upazila Secondary Education Officer Shawkat Akbar Khan said, “According to education ministry notification, school authority could take at most Tk 1,200. But, they should take coaching call for this money. Besides, the authority must give a written script against the collection of money.”
In addition, Comilla Education Board has fixed the fee Tk 1,850 for humanities background students and Tk 1,970 for the science background students. Besides, Rajshahi Education Board has fixed the fee Tk 1,890 for humanities and business background students and Tk 2,005 for the science background students.