English-medium schools are enrolling a growing share of children from Bangladesh’s middle-class families, yet government oversight of their fees, additional charges and day-to-day operations remains limited.
There is no clear government policy for the sector beyond the approval process, leaving parents with limited avenues to challenge fee increases or other decisions by school authorities. In some cases, schools have also been accused of disregarding government directives.
The regulatory gap is evident in disputes over tuition fees, re-enrolment charges and other payments. Parents and education stakeholders have repeatedly demanded greater accountability, but meaningful regulatory action has yet to emerge.
A senior education ministry official told TIMES that the authorities’ engagement with English-medium schools largely ends after they receive approval from the education board.
“There is no government policy for them,” the official said, adding that the ministry has been discussing the issue for the past few months.
Fees rise, parents seek answers
The regulatory gap is reflected most clearly in disputes over tuition fees and other charges.
At Glenrich International School in the capital, authorities recently barred several students from entering classrooms after they failed to pay their tuition fees by the stipulated deadline. Parents described the move as “extreme arbitrariness”.
Parents also alleged that tuition fees increase by 10 to 20 per cent every year without a corresponding improvement in services. Several key positions, including that of principal, have remained vacant for more than a year.
An analysis of the school’s tuition fee chart for the past four years shows that the playgroup tuition fee was Tk2,10,000 in the 2023-24 academic year. It rose by 12.87 per cent to Tk2,37,600 the following year, then increased by another 10 per cent to Tk2,61,360 in 2025-26. The fee rose by a further 11 per cent the following year to Tk2,87,520.
Nabamita Momtaz, head of admissions at Glenrich, said the school had a policy of increasing tuition fees in line with inflation.
“There is a policy to increase tuition fees in line with inflation, and that is what we follow. Inflation is very high this year. Accordingly, tuition fees should have increased by more. But the school authority has limited the increase to 10 per cent,” she said.
Asked why students had been barred from entering classrooms, she said tuition fees were due by 15 July, but some parents had not paid even in August. As a result, the students’ ID cards were automatically deactivated by the school’s software system.
Who regulates English-medium schools?
The lack of a clear regulatory framework has also created uncertainty over which government authority is responsible for overseeing English-medium schools.
Dhaka Education Board Chairman Professor Syed Aktaruzzaman told TIMES that the board only converts O-Level and A-Level certificates into their equivalent SSC and HSC certificates.
“The activities of English-medium schools do not fall under the board. Therefore, legally, the board cannot intervene in their affairs,” he said.
Professor Mohammad Mojibur Rahman of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University said the government did not need to intervene in the curriculum of English-medium schools but should regulate other aspects of their operations.
“Except for the curriculum, schools should follow government directives regarding all other aspects of their operation. This is followed in every country,” he said.
After re-enrolment fee ban, other charges emerge
The education ministry has prohibited schools from charging re-enrolment fees from this year. Parents, however, allege that some English-medium schools have introduced other charges under different names.
LORDS, an English-medium school in Gulshan-2, charged an additional Tk20,000 annual fee for 2026-27. A parent said the school also raised fourth-grade tuition from Tk13,000 to Tk15,000 without prior notice, while parents received no explanation for the increase.
Parents also complained of mandatory purchases. A fifth-grade parent said LORDS required uniforms to be made by a designated tailor for the school monogram, charging Tk800 for a shirt.
At Sir John Wilson School on 100 Feet Madani Avenue, a parent said tuition rose by Tk2,000 despite the removal of the re-enrolment fee. The school also required students to buy stationery from its own shop, the parent said.
Repeated calls to LORDS seeking comment went unanswered.
Professor Dr Md Masud Rana Khan, school inspector at the Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, said schools were prohibited from charging re-enrolment fees under government directives. “We are working on the issue,” he said.
A growing sector, limited oversight
According to the English Medium Schools Association of Bangladesh, there are more than 350 registered and unregistered English-medium schools in the country, with more than 300,000 students enrolled.
The amount collected by some schools through various charges over four or six months can exceed the cost of a semester at many private universities.
An official of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education said the government had once viewed English-medium education as an option mainly for affluent families and therefore paid little attention to the sector.
“But the trend of studying in English-medium schools has now grown, and enrolment is increasing. It has become an integral part of the education system. Therefore, English-medium schools and colleges now need to be brought under monitoring,” he said.
Parent ‘threatened’ after complaining about exam questions
The concerns extend beyond fees.
Riffat Hyder, head teacher of Maple Bear Canadian School in Gulshan, has been accused of misbehaving with a student’s parent after the parent complained about examination questions and damp classrooms.
The parent alleged that the head teacher also called them an “Awami League stooge” and told them to take their child out of the school.
TIMES obtained a recording of a conversation between the parent and the head teacher in which the latter can be heard speaking harshly to the parent.
The parent said the examination questions had been copied directly from model tests solved in class.
“I also raised the issue of the damp classrooms. He became angry and behaved badly with me because of this,” the parent said.
When TIMES called the head teacher’s official number, school coordinator Shadia Samad said he was unavailable.
After hearing the allegations, she said she would speak to the head teacher and provide a response. She did not respond further.
