The government is going to place in the next parliament session, scheduled for September 12, a bill with provisions making it mandatory for educational institutions to get registered with the authorities concerned as per existing laws, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said yesterday.

He was talking to reporters after a meeting with a delegation of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) at his secretariat office in the capital.

According to the proposed Education Act, all educational institutions will have to register with the government before fixing tuition fees and other charges.

The act was formulated to implement the

guidelines of the National Education Policy-2010.

The education ministry formed a 19-member committee to formulate a draft act in 2011 and the committee submitted the draft in February last year. Later, a nine-member workingcommittee was formed to finalise the draft.

On August 5, the ministry published the draft on its website for public opinion within September 10.

Talking to the reporters, the minister said the ministry received 234 proposals on the draft. Of those, 34 proposals came from government institutions, 94 from private institutions and 106 from individuals.

Nahid also said his ministry would replace the word "punishment" with an

appropriate word for the teachers while dealing with cases against them.

The parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry and teachers organisations also recommended replacing the word.

"Teachers are respectable persons and the word punishment is not honourable

forthem," he added.

He, however, said punitive action must be taken against teachers if they frequently miss classes, repress or torture students or get involved with illegal activities.

Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of CAMPE, said they gave a nine-page report with some recommendations on the draft.