Finance minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said he will not backtrack from his stance on the five percent Education Service Tax (EST) even if it means resigning from his post.

Speaking at a programme in Ratna Rajya Campus, Kathmandu, on Tuesday, Dr Bhattarai said the government is committed to raise the EST and if the schools do not comply with it this year, he would introduce more stringent measures in the next year’s budget. He added no one should oppose the EST as it was aimed at providing better education to students studying in government schools.

Minister Bhattarai said the EST was imposed to make up for the deficit in the budget for education as Rs 32 billion earmarked by the government for education sector is not enough.

What was wrong is raising a five percent tax for schools where the kids of the poor go, Bhattarai questioned.

Dr. Bhattarai had gone to the college to raise support for the Maoist affiliated student union ANNISU (Revolutionary) for the upcoming student elections.

Minister Bhattarai, who reached the campus in a private vehicle, said he had come to the college not as a minister, but as a student.

Meanwhile, education minister Renu Kumari Yadav has told school owners that the latter do not have to pay the EST.

Speaking to private school owners in Biratnagar on Monday minister Yadav said neither the registration would be cancelled nor the students would be deprived of taking the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams for not paying the EST, reports said.

Yadav assured the private school owners that the education ministry would communicate with the finance ministry to scrap the five percent EST on private schools. nepalnews.com ta Mar 17 09

- http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2009/mar/mar17/news09.php