Colleges realising extra admission fee flouting rules

Many colleges are allegedly charging admission fees up to five times than the fees set by the government putting extra burden on the guardians. Some students and guardians alleged that college authorities were denying admission of students other than those of their school sections, while some colleges had received partial list of the selected students. Students and their guardians talk to officials at Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board in Dhaka on Monday regarding complexities in admission in Class XI. —New Age photo The education boards published the first merit list for enrolment at colleges on higher secondary courses on early Monday after missing three deadlines because of errors in the computerised data processing system. According to the new admission guidelines, students had named five colleges of their choice in the application online and the education board selected the colleges where they would enrol. This year, 11.56 lakh students applied for admission. In Dhaka, colleges are charging between Tk 9.000 and Tk 30,000, although the government had fixed admission fees at Tk 5,000 for colleges on monthly pay order and Tk 9,000 for colleges not enjoying the facility in the capital, Tk 3,000 for colleges in metropolitan cities and Tk 2,000 for colleges in district headquarters. Milestone College is charging Tk 30,000 from English version students and Tk 23,500 from Bangla version students, Cambrian School and College, Kings College, Metropolitan College and Winsome College are charging Tk 25,000, Dhaka City College is charging Tk 22,290. Dhaka Residential Model College is charging Tk 12,192 from residential students and Tk 8,971 from non residential students, Mohammadpur Central University College is charging Tk 5,930 as admission fee and additional practical fee for computer Tk 1,500 and others practical fee Tk 600. Mohammadpur Preparatory Higher Secondary School is charging Tk 12,500, Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College is charging Tk 10,000, Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Monipur School and College, Ideal School and College, Mothijheel are charging Tk 9,000 as admission fees. Some of these colleges had also realised extra fees for admission in 2014. A number of guardians said that extra fees were putting them under immense pressure. ‘The government does not take effective measure to ensure that the colleges take admission fees in accordance with the government guideline,’ said Rakib Uddin, a guardian. School authorities said that they had to increase the admission fees as the daily expenses in running an institution had increased. Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education director (admin and college) SM Wahiduzzaman said that they were not aware that colleges were taking extra admission fees. ‘If we get any complaints, we will take action against the colleges for charging extra,’ he said. A group of guardians alleged that authorities of Viqarunnessa Noon School did not provided admission forms to students who did not pass the Secondary School Certificate exams from their school section. School principal Sufia Khatun’s mobile was found switched off and a teacher said that they would provide form to others students after completing admission of their own students. Many guardians said that colleges like Monipur and Uttara City College, had received partial list of the selected students. They also complained about discrepancy between letter grades and grade point average of the admission seekers in several subjects. Admitting that there are some mistakes in preparation of the transcript, inter-education board coordination subcommittee Abu Bakar Siddique, also the Dhaka Education Board chairman, assured that the students would be given corrected transcripts and they would be able to get enrolled at colleges without transcripts. All others issues would be settled soon without hampering students, he added HSC colleges are set to enrol students without late fees until July 2. News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net