Bangladesh Chhatra Mission, a student organisation, on Friday demanded that the government withdraw 7.5 percent value added tax (VAT) from private educational institutions.
The demand came from a human chain staged in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the city. Bangladesh Chhatra Mission general secretary Md Zaber Hossain and its Dhaka city unit convener Syed Mohammad Milon, among others, spoke at the programme with its president Kamrul Islam Suruj in the chair.
Speaking on the occasion, Kamrul Islam alleged that the government has imposed VAT on private universities instead of reducing the high cost which is unacceptable.
Demanding withdrawal of the VAT, he said the extra VAT will put the academic life of many students at stake as majority of the private university students come from lower middle-class families.
Observing that it is the government’s failure that they could not manage to establish adequate government colleges and universities, Zaber Hossain said it imposed the additional VAT on private educational institutions to hush up their failure.
Chhatra Mission leaders also urged students of all private institutions to be united and take to the street to press home their demand.
-UNB
