How Justified is the fees Hike in school is?

The mounting cost of education in recent years has eaten into a major part of the household budget. An Assocham survey showed that 65% of parents spend more than half their take-home pay on their children's education, extra co-curricular activities placing significant burden on their family budget. According to the survey, parents spending on a single child's education has gone up from Rs 35,000 in 2005 to over Rs 94,000 in 2011 on such items and activities as integral to the school curriculum like fees, transport books, uniform, stationery, building fund, educational trips, extra tuitions and extracurricular activities. The survey highlights that the rising cost of education, has become a major cause of worry for parents. Majority of parents spend on average more than Rs 18 Lakh- 20 lakh in raising a child by the time their teen graduates from The verdict by the Delhi high court has implications for close to 400 private schools in the city, and comes as a major relief to thousands of parents forced to accept annual fee hikes they are rarely consulted on. Declaring that “schools cannot indulge in profiteering and commercialization of education”, a bench of chief justice ordered the government’s directorate of education (DoE) to ensure these schools comply with the terms and conditions of their letter of allotment of land regarding fee hikes.

Fee hike by private schools is a contentious issue in the country and in Indore as well, and often a subject of litigation. In a way hike is justified. Maintenance cost is rising and school managements incur a lot of expenses buying components for classrooms and improving infrastructure. The faculty and the staff have to be paid in accordance with the rising standards. If you have to provide good education, teachers should be competent enough to give this quality education, and you will have to pay more to a competent professional. The same is true with other facilities also. The schools also have provide facilities that are in accordance with the fees, and that can be seen very evidently. 

A private school management staff member said the major chunk of the fee hike is to compensate for the salary increments that have to be taken into account every year. "At least 60% of the fee goes towards salaries. There are also other costs of maintenance, including lab equipment or computers, and cost of labour and conveyance, Some parents  never object with the amount charged by the school, because they know that the school is spending huge amounts to pay teachers, provide additional study material, and moreover  parents do not have a choice, they want to send their child to the best school. They agree that it is a financial burden, but the school can’t be questioned if the child needs to get quality education."

The schools shall Improvement of the quality of education; provide clean water and better sanitation for students, with better laboratory and library facilities, teacher must have qualification prescribe by central government, provision of good salary as well as allowances of teachers and finally Schools must provide better learning environment to justify the fee.

The author of this article is Asst.Professor Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies