With more and more people in the district queuing up in front of private schools seeking admissions, the managements of a number of institutions have increased the tuition and other fees significantly.
Parents of students, particularly those seeking higher secondary admissions, find themselves paying huge amount as fees this year. Since most of the schools posted a good performance in the public examinations last year, most of the managements hiked the fees by 20 to 30 per cent.
A parent who admitted his son in the science stream said that he was bearing a high cost of tuition fee and transportation charges in addition to various other fees.
“If we seek hostel accommodation, then total cost works out to more than Rs. 1.20 lakh per year. For two years, I will be spending Rs. 2.40 lakh. We have to bear this because the school showed a good performance in the public examinations,” he said on condition of anonymity.
It is not just higher secondary education that has become costlier. The schools, particularly those offering CBSE syllabus, are also charging high. Some of the schools are collecting donations to admit the children even in kindergarten.
“We pay a sum of Rs. 80,000 per year for my daughter who is now in Class I at a CBSE school. It boasts of smart, technology-enabled classrooms and other features. So we admitted her in the school,” says P. Sathish Babu, another parent.
A senior official said the education department could initiate action against institutions only when the parents complained.
“More than 95 per cent of the parents are not willing to register a formal complaint against the school fearing that it will aversely affect the education of their son or daughter,” the official said.
“We had not received any complaint about the collection of exorbitant fees till date,” the officials added.
