Fee goes up every year abnormally
Every year, it has become a practice for most of the schools to increase the fee and the percentage of the same is high in case of corporate institutions. The burden seems to take a toll on middleclass and upper-middleclass families who covet their wards study in corporate schools, irrespective of the exorbitant fee and subsequent hike. The infrastructure, theme activities, usage of sophisticated technology or teaching methodology of these schools charm parents by and large.
Apparently, a number of corporate and concept schools have been mushrooming in the city for the last few years. Parents don't mind making sacrifices for their child study in the best of schools.
Children learn in a better way too if they are taught with visual effects as most of them seem to be tech-savvy these days, opine a few parents.
But the key components involved in the fee structure, be it the initial payment during admission or a monthly fee and its gradual rise, baffle parents. Many of the corporate schools seem to make good business for quite sometime now, says AP Private Schools' Association State president K.S.N. Murthy. “Publicity adds an extra edge for these institutions; as a result, budget schools are facing a hit,” he laments.
Parents are ignorant of the components involved in structuring the school fee, says C. Balasatish, president of Etasi Timpany Parents' Association (ETSPA). “Whether the fee includes costs like building maintenance, staff salary, library books, sports equipment, and others, if so the percentage of the same remains unknown to us,” he adds.
GO not implemented
In 2009, a G.O. Ms.No.91 was passed on the key factors involved in the constitution of fee where a governing body that consists of chairman of the institution, principal, a representative from teachers' side, a parent along with the president of parents' association would unanimously agree upon a fee structure. Unfortunately, the GO is not yet implemented, he says.
Hopefully, the Right to Education Act (RTE) might bring some revolution on the subject, making the fee structure uniform and transparent, says an educational official.
Keywords: RTE Act, uniform fee structure
