Hundreds of students of Bangladeshi private universities today blocked a major highway and staged street protests in the capital and other major cities demanding withdrawal of a government decision to impose VAT on tuition fees.
Witnesses and police said movement of vehicles were halted on the Aricha Road that links Dhaka with northwestern region since the morning two days after their protests paralysed the capital for the entire day.
"The students today, however, blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway just for an hour but it caused a huge gridlock of vehicles. They (protesters) said they will take to the street again tomorrow unless their demand was met," an officer of highway police said.
The protests prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to make a parliamentary statement saying the students would not be taxed rather the private university authorities would have to pay the proposed 7.5 per cent VAT.
Finance Minister A M A Muhith also urged the students to remain vigilant against tuition fee hikes in the name of "development funds" or any other such means.
He told the students to remain alert so they would not end up paying large sums.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also issued a clarification saying the universities would pay the government this tax at the set rate from the tuitions fees they charge their students.
The students however have rejected the "explanation" and threatened to wage strike for three-days, starting tomorrow fearing that they eventually would need to pay the enhanced amount for their education in private universities.
