EST had been a matter of dispute between the government and private school associations, but private schools affiliated with both the Private and Boarding Schools´ Organization of Nepal (PABSON) and the National Private and Boarding Schools´ Organization of Nepal (N-PABSON), along with higher secondary schools and colleges, have started incorporating EST in their monthly fee bills.[break]
"We protested EST for two years. Some well-off schools even paid it without charging their parents. But parents did not realize that we were actually fighting on their behalf. So, we decided to collect EST from them," Rajesh Khadka, president of PABSON, said. "We have thrown the ball into the parents´ court. Now, the parents have to protest it."
Geeta Rana, president of N-PABSON, concurs with Khadka. "We will always stand against the concept of EST," Rana told Republica. "But, we can no longer refrain from paying it. We have suffered a lot for not paying. Now, the parents themselves must raise their voice against EST."
According to Rana, many schools have not been able to upgrade their levels for not having paid EST. Similarly, the Office of Company Registrar (OCR) has disrupted the share transactions of such schools. "We suffered these problems because we did not want EST from the parents," she said.
Two years ago, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) had announced EST through a financial ordinance. In his budget speech, then finance minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had said that money collected as EST would be spent to provide free education services to students in Karnali, the most backward development zone of Nepal.
According to Lekhnath Poudel, spokesperson of the Ministry of Education (MoE), the original concept of EST was to collect a certain percentage of the money that private schools and colleges collect as admission and tuition fees. "The real motive of EST was not to overburden parents with extra fees," Poudel said. "The concept of EST was to charge a certain percentage of admission and tuition fees. This concept has been distorted."
The question of who, schools-colleges or parents, are to be responsible for paying EST emerged, and most private schools and colleges had not paid it until recently. However, after the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) made it clear through a public notice that private schools and colleges can charge extra fees for EST, PABSON and N-PABSON both decided to incorporate EST in the bills sent to parents.
Laxman Aryal, deputy director general (DDG) of IRD, justifies PABSON and N-PABSON´s decisions, arguing that EST is an indirect tax which is collected from consumers. "As per the principal of indirect tax, private schools and colleges can shift the burden of EST to parents," he said.
Initially, private schools and colleges were supposed to pay five percent of total admission and tuition fees as EST. Later, following PABSON and N-PABSON´s vociferous protests, IRD had reduced EST to just one percent. However, even after the percentage of EST was reduced, schools shifted their burden onto the shoulders of parents, who are an unorganized lot.
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