Muhith urges students to stand guard against tuition fee hike

The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, on Saturday asked private university students to prepare for a movement against university authorities if the authorities tried to increase tuition fees in the next year.
‘The owners of the private universities assured that they would pay the 7.5 per cent value added tax imposed on tuition fees,’ Muhith said at a prize distribution ceremony of a debate competition organised by Debate for Democracy at Bangla Academy auditorium.
He said that the students should remain alert and prepared for movement against any attempt of the university authorities to hike their tuition fees due to VAT,’ Muhith said.
Muhith said that if the students did not remain alert, authorities of private universities would realise the money they paid as VAT from the students as development and others fees.
He said that a private university student spent Tk 1,000 every day for the purpose of education. ‘I have just urged them to give me Tk 75 only as VAT for establishing some technical schools and colleges and development activities.’
Education secretary Nazrul Islam Khan at the programme said that if he was the leader of the student movement, he would demand that students would pay the VAT, but the money must be deposited to a Research Fund and government should pay equal amount of money to that fund.
ATN Bangla chairman Mahfuzur Rahman and BRAC executive director Muhammad Musa, Debate for Democracy chairman Hassan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron also addressed the programme.
The finance minister had been making confusing statements on VAT imposed on tuition fees at private universities.
On Friday, he said that the private university students would not need to pay VAT for this year.
‘What I think is…this time nobody is going to be charged. They [universities] will pay it from what [tuition fees] have already been collected,’ he said.
Asked whether the VAT would be imposed on students in future, Muhith said it would be considered later.
On September 10, Muhith said while speaking to journalists at the Sylhet Circuit House, he said, ‘VAT will not be withdrawn. It is the private university authorities who will pay it, not the students. The private university authorities will not be allowed to raise tuition fees of the students.’

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