Costly admission to colleges

Admission to the reputed colleges of the city and elsewhere has ever remained in the priority list of both students and guardians. Now if money alone would have been the criterion for admission, not all the top graders could count themselves fortunate enough to study in those colleges. But this year the problem has been exacerbated by the avalanche of top graders who are competing for the limited seats. When this is both a physical limitation and a policy-wise constraint, another problem raises its head from an unexpected corner. This concerns the admission fees. Although the education ministry has instructed colleges to strictly follow the ceiling it has set for them, a few of the educational institutions are complying with the instruction. Two leading schools and colleges which were taken to task last year for not following the instruction have this time fully complied with it but others are defying the same.
The ministry's directive is simple: no college can take more than Tk 9,000 for admission fees for Bengali version and Tk 10,000 for English version. The two schools have fixed the amount within the specified range but others have not. A number of colleges have been charging students within the range of Tk 12,000 to 20,000. Even there was a report on one college charging more than Tk 30,000 for admission. Intriguingly, the college in question is not among the top ranked. Clearly, the education ministry's purpose has been frustrated. Now money can do the trick. Educational institutions which could not care less for quality of students in favour of their commercial interests, have defied the education ministry. But strangely, the ministry has been maintaining inexplicable silence over the issue. Reports carried in a number of Bangla contemporaries have highlighted the anarchy that is going on in the matter of admission. Even the education board concerned has no reasons to be unaware of the fact. But no one is moving the case to correct the wrong.
No wonder, therefore, that not all are keeping their mouths shut. People suspect that money exchanges hands involving the authorities of the educational institutions, a section of board officials and the ministry. Let this not be the case by any chance. In the interest of transparency and propriety of things, it is essential that the ministry and the education came up with an explanation. Guardians and students do not dare take up the matter with higher authorities because they are not willing to be singled out. But the records of the money received can be obtained from the account offices of the educational institutions. So, if one is serious about proving the fact that money in excess of the fixed amount was received by the colleges, it poses not to be a difficult task. Now the question is, if the ministry and the board are willing to project their clean images before the public, no matter if the exercise sends a few heads rolling.