Tax on education!
The government of Bangladesh, in its national budget FY 10-11, has imposed a 4.5% VAT on all Fees and Charges payable to the private universities. I studied at Dhaka University and I had to pay only Taka 12 in a month and after 25 years a Dhaka university student has to pay Taka 25/- in a month whereas a private university student is paying Tk.7000/ to Tk.18000/ per month depending on the university. I admit that quality of education of some private universities is not good but many private universities are providing quality education to thousands of students. Some private universities have adopted better education system than the existing system of education and started research to solve national problems. After passing students are contributing to the nation in various ways. Many of them went abroad to do job and are sending foreign currencies to enrich our foreign currency reserves. So why this injustice to them? Many people have a misconception that only sons and daughters of very rich people study at private universities. I have seen many guardians of my students paying tuition fees by selling their land.
May I ask the government if this huge number of students would go to India, Thailand or Nepal for higher studies would they get better education than they are getting now here? If there were no private universities in Bangladesh it had to lose a huge amount of foreign currency. Considering the economic condition of the poor and middle class families, the government should change its decision of imposing VAT on tuition fees paid by private university students. Instead of imposing VAT, the government should give subsidy to the really poor students studying at private universities.
All of us know that the government has added 4.5% vat on private universities' tuition fees. I am really shocked by this decision. We know the government is unable to produce the required number of seats in public universities. That's why most of the deprived students admitted themselves into private universities to continue their higher education in their desired subject. Many of them collect money from borrowing or selling land. Why has the government forgotten that these students have a great contribution to developing this nation? Statistics show that to make a student graduate from BUET, the government has to pay 8 lakh taka. And most of them go abroad and take part in developing another country. The government should think about a less expensive higher education system, but alas! They imposed value added tax on education. Is education a business? For 4.5% vat the students have to pay an extra Tk 40,000-50,000 . That's why some of the students will not be able to continue their education. Does the government want it? So my request to all the educated people: raise your hands against this unlawful decision. Tahsin,
Dept of Computer Science & Software Engineering
American International University-Bangladesh
All of us know that the government has added 4.5% vat on private universities' tuition fees. I am really shocked by this decision. We know the government is unable to produce the required number of seats in public universities. That's why most of the deprived students admitted themselves into private universities to continue their higher education in their desired subject. Many of them collect money from borrowing or selling land. Why has the government forgotten that these students have a great contribution to developing this nation? Statistics show that to make a student graduate from BUET, the government has to pay 8 lakh taka. And most of them go abroad and take part in developing another country. The government should think about a less expensive higher education system, but alas! They imposed value added tax on education. Is education a business? For 4.5% vat the students have to pay an extra Tk 40,000-50,000 . That's why some of the students will not be able to continue their education. Does the government want it? So my request to all the educated people: raise your hands against this unlawful decision. Tahsin,
Dept of Computer Science & Software Engineering
American International University-Bangladesh
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