Reckless hike in school fee

For the last four years, I have been forced to pay Rs. 500 increment in school fees for two of my children in a mediocre Delhi Public School that does not have sufficient infrastructure and trained teachers. Upon ask, the authorities provide a vague type of explanation that does not go down with me. But I have no option but to accede to their unmindful demand of fee hike. There are thousands, like me, of parents in Delhi and elsewhere in this country who have been witnessed to skyrocketing hike in school fee. Education has become such a dear pursuit.

Going by a survey of ASSOCHAM, the costs of sending a child to school have risen by 160% in the last 8 years. This is not all. This percentage is exclusive of the tuition fees hiked at regular or irregular intervals. The survey, done under the aegis of the Social Development Foundation of ASSOCHAM on 'Rising school expenses vis-à-vis dilemma of young parents' reveals that annual school expenses for a single child excluding tuition fees have risen from Rs 25,000 in the year 2000 to Rs 65,000 in 2008 while the average annual income of fairly well-off parents has not risen by more than 30% in the same period.

The average tuition fee for a private school is Rs 35,000 per year, with Rs 30,000-35,000 per year goes under the 'overheads' column. According to the survey, an estimated 3 crore children study in private schools. While the annual income on an average of well off parents have risen not by more than 28% to 30% during the period, says Secretary General, ASSOCHAM Mr. D S Rawat.

The survey report on 2,000 working parents across nine cities, viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Dehradun, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Chandigarh during April-May 2008 shows that about 50% parents accepted schooling was actually a 'strain' on the family budget, while 65% respondents said more than half of their salary was spent on their children's education. Nearly 60% of parents felt education had become a business and that the high tuition fees did not actually indicate the academic standards of a school.

“Transport is one of the most expensive components of a child's schooling with an average annual cost of Rs 12,000 per child. Packed lunches cost Rs 9,600 per year per child and shoes cost Rs 4,000-5,000 per year per child.” Such expenses lead to fact that the poor have no room for studying in quality schools where money reigns.

Source: ASSOCHAM Press Release at: http://www.assocham.org/prels/shownews.php?id=1583

While most of schools prefer to force parents to buy “school prescribed” books from the school counters, it costs them three times more money, since most of the books are from private publishers, not NCERT, which is cheaper and better. But even principals of schools do not listen to the woes of parents. In the process, middlemen, agents and school authorities make huge money that is snatched from parents’ pockets.

Like me, thousands of parents must be worried about how they are going to pay for rising school fees and where to get them admitted. The so-called ‘voluntary’ contributions” is another big headache, and it comes suddenly and on a very short notice. For this, children are forced to coerce their parents for money. The tactics often works, as parents make arrangement anyhow because either the child says that he/she will not go to school or he/she faces extreme humiliations at the hands of teachers and staff. Another ploy is to create competition among students on fee payment whereby teachers highlight or laud those who have paid and punish or downgrade those who have not.

In the majority of cases, schools lay down specific uniform specifications. More than that, they force parents to buy uniforms from a particular shop or sell in their premises via agents. Naturally, these agents, who pay a share to school authorities, charge exorbitant price in the absence of competition or regulation. If a parent happens to intervene, school authorities accuse him of going against the norms. Since parents fear that authorities may take revenge by providing less marks to their children in exams, they just prefer to keep mum.

Of course, it is a business, but there must be regulation or surveillance so that private schools do not indulge in corrupt practices. Besides, there must be openness and accountability in audit and financial reports. The Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi should address issues that have come to light via the ASSOCHAM survey. Though the government has failed to provide quality schools to its children in all these years that can match the private ones, at they can put some legal strictures on them to deal fairly.