HC orders refund of extra SSC fees
The High Court yesterday ordered the government to make 20 schools in Dhaka refund by January 20 the additional fees they charged from Secondary School Certificate (SSC) candidates.
The management committees of these schools would otherwise be cancelled and the members would be barred from holding any post in such committees for three years, said the HC.
The HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman gave the order during hearing a suo moto rule.
The rule was issued on November 10 last year, following a news report that some schools had charged up to eight times the government-fixed fees for registering SSC candidates.
The court also ordered the government to immediately stop such practice at schools across the country.
The registration fee for an SSC candidate was fixed at Tk 1,400. But Bangla daily Jugantor reported some students were forced to pay up to eight times more.
The principals, headmasters and heads of the managing committees of the 20 schools were present in the court during the order.
The institutions are Motijheel Ideal School and College, Viqarunnisa Noon School, Mirpur Bangla School and College, Dhaka Residential Model College, National Ideal School and College, Rajuk Uttara Model College, Cambrian School and College, Udayan High School, Raihan College, Alimuddin High School, Mohammadpur High School (New Market), Armanitola Government High School, West End High School, Anandamoyee Girls High School, Holy Cross Girls High School, Siddheshwari Girls High School, Ahmed Bawani Academy, Monipur High School, Mirpur Adarsha High School, and Mirpur Shaheed Smriti High School.
Among the heads of the governing bodies of the institutions, Rashed Khan Menon, MP, and Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique and Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan appeared before the HC.
The court exempted them from appearing before it for the time being, Deputy Attorney General Biswojit Roy told The Daily Star.
The court fixed February 1 for its next order on the issue, he added.
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