Guardians yesterday staged a demonstration outside the junior section of International Turkish Hope School in Gulshan, protesting what they said the new instalment plan imposed by the school authorities.

There used to be an instalment plan for paying yearly fees for an academic session and the guardians had been paying the fees in 11 instalments.

But the guardians of students of junior section said the school authorities had recently decided to receive the yearly payment for the new academic session in eight instalments,  dealing a blow to them.

For example, they said, for a student of grade-III, the guardians used to pay Tk 13,276 for each instalment except the first and last one of an academic session. As the authorities have suddenly brought down the number of instalments to eight from 11, instalment fees in this class have jumped up to Tk 21,493, they added.

However, the first and last instalment fees vary from grade to grade, they said.

"This is indeed a burden for us to pay a hefty amount of money for our children's education," said Afsana, a guardian.

Ismail Akbas, head of the junior section, told reporters that the parents had earlier signed an agreement regarding the changes in the yearly instalment plan.

Muhammad Shameem Reza, deputy head of the section, said the parents who cannot afford to pay the first instalment of the new academic session starting in August by July, they are requested to submit an application for paying the instalment in August.

Established in Dhaka in 1996, the school has six branches with 1,905 students in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra.