The latest is the reported court case by a guardian against an EMS for raising the annual and other charges suddenly, on an irregularly regular basis. As the head of the family, I am also a victim for 14 years since my return from abroad. Now, as a pensioner, I cannot continue financially the study of our son in a local private university in the third and fourth year, spending about Taka one lakh per annum. As he was educated abroad in the English medium abroad since his KG days, he could not be admitted into the cheaper school and university in the public sector in Dhaka due to absence of English medium options. This issue is getting bigger and bigger as the government encourages employment abroad, as our population is huge. All aspects of policy making have to be reviewed carefully.

The latter has now become obligatory as lakhs of Bangladeshis work abroad for short or long periods, and many have to return home. Why the foreign-schooled children have to suffer for circumstances beyond their control? This issue has to be resolved immediately.

As for the English-medium schools, these have become very popular due to global-village image, and infiltration of alien Western culture into our society, specially at the higher levels (very mobile). Some policy guidelines are badly needed for continuity of the education of the displaced children in Bangladesh. The problems of rehabilitation is beyond an individual's control all the time, hence the state comes in for a friendly regulatory role.

Another point to note is that the EMSs are beyond the means of middle class and fixed income groups. How the government is going to assist? There are many other issues (poor syllabus choice, private tutorial centres, part-time teaching by the teachers, politics in the academy, etc) which have to be deliberated loudly and publicly. But the politicians prefer to keep their noses closer to the home ground and miss the satisfaction of enjoying the reward of good, selfless public service.