MP Nasser Shahrear Zahedee Mohul Proposes To Reduce Cadet College Fees

Cadet College is a specialized educational institution where students' fees are determined based on their parents' income. Recently, there has been an increase in this fee by up to 30%. In this context, Member of Parliament from Jhenaidah-2 constituency, Md. Nasser Shahrear Zahedee Mohul, proposed to reduce the tuition fees for students of Cadet Colleges.

Today (Sunday, May 5), during the question and answer session in Parliament, MP Nasser Shahrear Zahedee Mohul drew the attention of Law Minister Anisul Haque while speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.

Nasser Shahrear Zahedee posed whether there will be any provision for increasing the salary for middle and lower-middle-income families' children in a rational manner. 

He stated that tuition fees in Cadet Colleges across 19 tiers are increased. Among them, at the highest level, if the income of parents exceeds one lakh taka, they have to pay 20,000 taka as tuition fees. If this is increased by 30%, it will be 26,000 taka from 2024. For parents earning around 40,000 taka, the fee for their children will be 16,250 taka, which is 40% of their total income. In this situation, he proposed not to increase the tuition fee, but to reconsider it at a more acceptable level.

In response, the Law Minister Anisul Haque stated that as Cadet Colleges do not have their own source of income apart from tuition fees, and according to the decision of the Ministry of Finance. Although there was a proposal for a primary increase in tuition fees to increase their own income, it has not been increased. Subsequently, the tuition fees for new cadets in the seventh grade have been increased in 20 steps. Among them, the minimum fee is 1,000 taka per step, and the maximum fee is set at 28,000 taka, which was previously 22,000 taka.

The Minister further mentioned plans to establish an endowment fund for the talented children of underprivileged families in Cadet Colleges, through which they will enjoy much more benefits than before in comparison to regular students. It is noteworthy that Cadet Colleges do not have any allocation for IBAS++ pensions, and since the fiscal year 2022-23, retirement allowances for retired employees and staff have been suspended.

A few moments later, the Minister added that he just learned from the Prime Minister's office about the funds intended for pensions that were supposed to be allocated by the government. The Prime Minister has instructed to process that fund allocation. In this regard, he expressed the hope that if the concerned party applies to the authorities based on the question raised by the Member of Parliament, they might consider the matter.