Re-admission free for all govt students: Education ministry

No re-admission fee will be charged from any student enrolled in a government educational institution from now on, as per a recently issued policy by the Ministry of Education.

However, private educational institutions (schools, colleges and the higher secondary level of degree colleges) will be allowed to collect tuition fees in line with the Tuition Fee Policy 2024.

These provisions were announced in the Financial Transparency and Accountability Policy for Educational Institutions, 2026, recently issued by the ministry.

Ministry finalises policy to enforce ban on re-admission fees

Earlier, a circular issued on 11 November 2025 instructed institutions not to charge admission fees from students moving to the next class.

However, as many institutions continued the practice, the Bangladesh Legal and Rights Foundation filed a public interest writ on 25 January.

Following this, the ministry finalised the policy and published it in a gazette notification on 9 February, signed by Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Rehana Parveen.

Today (18 February) the Secondary and Higher Education Division finalised and published the Financial Transparency and Accountability Policy for Educational Institutions, codifying the ban on re-admission fees and strengthening enforcement to prevent financial irregularities, ensure transparency, and enhance accountability.

Guidelines for educational institutions

The policy clearly states that no institution may collect re-admission fees from any currently enrolled student under any circumstances, and institutions are not permitted to create any additional fee heads beyond the approved structure unless the ministry has introduced, removed, modified, or revised the relevant income and expenditure heads as necessary.

The policy also requires private institutions to follow existing government financial rules for all income and expenditure.

Institutional accounts must be operated jointly by the managing committee chairman and the head of the institution, with the head responsible for maintaining detailed financial records.

Any financial irregularity or corruption involving the managing committee will hold the responsible individuals accountable under existing laws.

Both the chairman and the institution head will bear joint responsibility for such irregularities.

Regarding revenue management, the policy states that institutional bank accounts must be opened with priority given to state-owned banks and all fees, donations, grants and income from assets must be received through designated accounts, the Sonali Payment Gateway (SPG) or other payment gateways of state-owned banks.

In cases of urgent necessity or natural disasters, cash may be accepted with ministry approval, provided the amount is deposited into the bank account within two working days.