School fees surge by over 30% or more in two years

A survey that drew over 27,000 responses across 312 districts, revealed that the annual fees in tier 1 and 2 cities range between Rs 1 lakh and 4 lakh.

Bengaluru: Fifty-eight per cent of parents surveyed in Bengaluru have noted that their children’s school fees has been hiked 30% or more in the last two years.

The survey, conducted nationwide by Local Circles that drew over 27,000 responses across 312 districts, revealed that the annual fees in tier 1 and 2 cities range between Rs 1 lakh and 4 lakh.

Ten per cent of the 1,619 parents surveyed in Bengaluru said that the school fees has surged by 50% over the last two years, while 48% said the fees has jumped between 30% to 50%.

Nearly 72% of them found the state government to be ineffective in curbing the “excessive” fee hike.

Savitha N, a parent residing in Subramanyapura with her six-year-old son enrolled in a private school in South Bengaluru, found the school fees to be 10% higher than last year. “We normally see about a 15% increase in our son’s school fees, which is nearly Rs 3 lakh, all-inclusive,” said another parent.

BN Yogananda, president, Karnataka Private Schools and Colleges Parents Association Coordination Committee, dubbed the arbitrary fee hike “unlawful”.

Private schools must upload their fee structure on a public portal or on their website, Yogananda said, adding, “Most of the schools do not do that.”

“The state government must constitute a fee determination commission or legislation to ensure that no such major hikes are allowed by private schools that mint money (by fee hikes),” he added.

On the other hand, D Shashi Kumar of the Associated Management of Private Schools in Karnataka argued that private schools were at liberty to hike their fees and the government cannot intervene and enforce an “unreasonable” blanket fee structure.

He admitted that the state government is responsible to keep some check to ensure they make their fee structure public.

“These numbers of 30% to 50% fee hikes are disputable. Elite schools might hike their fees by about 8% to 10% year-on-year, but not beyond that,” he clarified, adding that ideally, schools must not increase fees beyond 10% to 15% every year after a student is enrolled.