Students spenFE Reportd Tk 37.34b a year for free pry edn

The much-talked-about free primary education seems possible in imagination only as the annual spending of primary school students is around Tk 37.34 billion that affects mainly the poverty-stricken people, a study reveals.
 "On paper the primary education is free, in reality, all households including the poorest among them have to bear several but types of expenditure for their children's education," it says.  
The study on "Bangladesh Primary Education Stipend: A Quality Assessment" has been jointly conducted by the Directorate of the Primary Education Bangladesh (DPE), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).
The study says, on an average, the annual cost of a primary school student is around Tk 4,788, of which 54.1 per cent is spent on private tuition. The total number of students in primary schools is nearly 7.8 million (2013 estimates).
It says the students of urban areas pay higher as private tuition fee -- 59.3 per cent of the total cost. Highly poverty affected students pay 47.4 per cent while the medium poverty-riddled areas pay 51.8 per cent.
The study also reveals an alarming portion of the total spending goes to buy guidebooks and unfortunately highly poverty stricken people pay higher, 10.3 per cent of the total cost.
According to the study, school-going students pay Tk1273 to buy stationery items especially schooling materials, of which highly poverty riddled areas' students pay 29.2 per cent while the urban areas' students pay 24 per cent.