Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Highest fee is being charged by the British Council from Pakistani citizens in South Asia for its examinations IELTS whereas no watchdog is available in the country to nail said foreign organization for its discriminatory fee structure.

Following the complaints lodged by a number of aspirants to get appeared in the exams conducted by British Council, the Daily Times has learnt that the British Council is charging highest fee for its examinations in Pakistan as compare to other countries of our region i.e. India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

For instance, International English Language Testing System (IELTS is a most popular English language test conducted by the British Council. A comparison of fee structure for this test categorically resulted that Pakistani citizens are paying higher fee than the people living in other countries of South Asia.

Currently, fee for IELTS is PKR.25,520 in Pakistan while PKR.17,540 in India, PKR.15,957 in Sri Lanka, PKR.20,260 in Bangladesh, PKR.24,118 in Afghanistan, PKR 15,202 in Uzbekistan. The aforementioned fee rates are in Pakistani currency after conversion from the respective currency of each country so chances of minor variation is possible.

The fee structure of IELTS within Pakistan also varies as the test fee is Rs.22,000 in Peshawar; Rs.24,860 in Karachi and Hyderabad (includes 13% General Sales Tax levied by the provincial government); and Rs.25,520 in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujrat (includes 16% General Sales Tax levied by the provincial government).

The Daily Times contacted British Council Pakistan via email and requested to explain the reasons of high fee charged as compare to other countries of the region and the details of tax included in the fee. In its written reply, a communication manager of British Council Mudabbir Maajid declined to answer the specific queries attached with the issue and just quoted official response as; “Thank you for your interest in British Council IELTS. Reference to your enquiry; it is not our policy to release operational information on our products.”

Afterwards, a written question was also sent to the Samuel Heath, the Head of Communications in British High Commission Islamabad who did not replied.

However, when contacted, the Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said; “British Council is an independent international organisation and it is not our mandated to question it for these matters.”

The officials inside the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Education has also informed that they are toothless to take any action against this foreign organisation and referred towards State Minister Baligh-ur-Rehman for official verdict, but he was unavailable to comment besides several attempts.

Thousands of citizen get appeared every year in exams holding by British Council including its flagship program IELTS, which is considered necessary to study and work around the world. “More than 9,000 organisations in 140 countries accept IELTS, including government, academic and employment institutions. IELTS is the only English language test accepted for immigration purposes by all countries that require one”, the web site of British Council mentions.

An entrepreneur working with British Council has revealed that the organisation is a tax exempted body than how it can include taxes in its fee. He said further; “the British Council is not only taking high fee in IELTS, but in several other exams i.e. NEBOSH, it has also charged higher fee than even some rich countries like UAE.

Students were of the view that government should intervene to end the monopoly of this foreign organisation and bound them to revise its fee structure in Pakistan to align it with other countries of the region or brief the reasons behind excessive fee structure for Pakistani students.