With the new academic year just around the corner, parents are facing the brunt of increased fees which has seen a hike in double digits since the COVID-19 pandemic. It's not just the school costs but also other annual educational expenses that have seen a steep increase.
A survey conducted by Local Circles revealed that in Tier I and II cities, the annual all-inclusive fees of premier private schools range between Rupees one lakh to four lakh and the fees in good private schools in Tier III and IV cities range between Rs 50,000 - Rs 2 lakh.
The study noted that 50 per cent of parents complained of a 30 per cent or more fee hike in the last two years.
Process and findings
The survey received over 27,000 responses from parents located in 312 districts of India including Karnataka. About 66 per cent of respondents were men while 34 per cent of respondents were women. Over 45 per cent of respondents were from Tier I, 24 per cent from Tier II and 31 per cent respondents were from Tier III, IV and rural districts.
Meanwhile, the private school associations in the state have defended the fee hike and also proposed to regulate the increase at 10-15 per cent, year on year given the expenses.
The Karnataka High Court in 2023 had quashed the government’s plea on regulating school fees for private schools that had rendered parents in the state helpless.
Comments?
Shashi Kumar D, Convener, Karnataka Private School Managements Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Co-ordination Committee (KPMTCC) said that though the survey says that there has been an increase of 30 per cent it might not be true for all the private schools.
“Most schools have only hiked the fees by the nominal rate of 10-15%. During 2020-2022 schools did not hike the fees and hence now it might have been 15-20% in some schools,” he explained.
Kumar added that any private aided schools have the liberty to fix a reasonable fee and the government can keep an eye on it or regulate it, however, “The government has no authority to fix the fees.”
As a resolution, the association suggested that all schools should make their expenditure public at the start of the academic year.
The survey’s question on whether the state governments have been effective in capping or limiting excessive fee increases by schools revealed that only 23 per cent of parents felt happy with the action taken.
"If household earnings are growing under 10% a year, school fees just simply cannot continue to grow at 15-25% a year as experienced by many parents. It is just not sustainable," concluded the survey report demanding government intervention and capping the increase at 5-10 per cent.
