For the past few years, parents of school-going children in India have been grappling with one growing problem — skyrocketing school fees.

On average, private schools in metropolitan cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and others charge anything between Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs per annum as school fees. These schools often boast of “world-class facilities” and “international curriculum” to further justify the exorbitant fees.

However, many states do not have strict regulatory mechanisms, or bodies to cap the amount that private and unaided schools can charge as fees — leading to uncontrolled hikes in the already exorbitant school fees.

A recent survey by community platform LocalCircles, published in May 2025, revealed that about 81 per cent of parents reported fee hikes of more than 10 per cent.

In 2024, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) reported that private and unaided schools have increased their fees by over 169 per cent, even exceeding inflation and salary growth.

At the same time, parents and parents’ associations in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi staged protests against fee hikes by almost 50 per cent by schools this year.

These protests led to interventions from the governments of Delhi and Karnataka, which introduced ordinances to regulate school fees and set up complaint redressal systems.

Recently, however, a photograph of the fee structure of a Hyderabad-based school went viral, where they were charging over Rs 2.5 lakhs as annual fees for Nursery.

Additionally, the school was only increasing the fees as the classes progressed, with the fees for Class 4 students exceeding Rs 3 lakhs per annum.

This only begs the question — why do schools charge such high fees for early education?

According to parents, the answer is simple: It’s because they can.

The school-government nexus

As education falls under subject of the State, the regulation of school fees by private schools usually falls under the ambit of the state governments. Several states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan, have Acts placing a 10–15 per cent cap on school fees.

In addition, the Supreme Court of India in 2023 upheld the state governments’ power to regulate fees and emphasised that schools must maintain transparency.

The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2003, which specifies 25 per cent of seats in private schools to be reserved for children from the economically weaker sections, places significant powers and responsibilities on the State Education Secretaries, and the District Education Officers, who report to State Governments, to ensure that the RTE Act is implemented.

However, despite these regulatory measures in place, school fee hikes remain unchecked due to complacent, and sometimes compliant state governments.

“In many states, there aren’t regulatory measures to control how much fees private schools must charge, how much they must hike them by, and how frequently,” says Advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, Supreme Court lawyer and President of the India Wide Parents’ Association.

Some parents allege that state governments and their officials often operate “hand-in-glove” with private schools. “Officials do not conduct proper audits to determine why schools need to collect such high fees from parents. They do not investigate the schools’ finances rigorously to see where the money goes. As a result, their finances remain opaque, and they have nobody to regulate their fees,” says Asif Sohail, President of Telangana Parents Association for Child Rights and Safety.

He adds that schools often overcharge parents for various items, such as books and uniforms. “Schools collect Rs 25,000 for textbooks that cost less than Rs 5,000 if purchased outside, and officials simply look away,” he claims.

Further, Sohail adds that neither the Education Secretary nor the District Education Officers make sure that the RTE Act is followed by private schools. “Name one instance where private schools filled up all the free seats under RTE,” he challenges, adding that private schools and government officers are collaborating to effectively "bring the end of RTE."

A heavy cost to parents

For many parents, especially those who belong to the so-called middle class, their children’s education has become a costly and stressful prospect.

“Many parents resort to taking out loans every month, just to ensure that school fees are paid. Some parents max out their credit cards to pay their children’s fees,” says Anubha.

Parents are forced to take such extreme steps, as unpaid fees result in school administrations harassing them and humiliating their children.

”School administrations pull up students whose fees are unpaid in front of the whole class. In some cases, they are even denied hall tickets and permission to appear for term exams. Imagine the toll it has on their mental health, and that of their parents,” asks Sohail.

He remarks that this is a consequence of schools “treating parents like ATMs.”

What is even more stark is the apathy from the state governments. Sohail narrates that when his association approached government officials with this issue, they refused to intervene and asked them to “resolve the issue amicably” with the school administrations.

“The schools only care about the bottom line, i.e. the payment of fees. They don’t care where we arrange the money from, or the cost it has on our well-being,” he states.

According to both Anubha and Sohail, the solution is obvious and simple: State governments must issue regulatory measures to prevent private schools from charging exorbitant fees and unrealistic hikes, and ensure that they are strictly implemented.

“Parents cannot simply protest every time there is a fee hike. State governments must act,” Anubha says.

While the Telangana Government is slated to introduce an act regulating private schools’ fees in the upcoming State Legislative Assembly session, it remains to be seen how well it is implemented.

“We are willing to write to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India if the state government does not act,” Sohail declares.