Where parents pay through nose

Tony international schools have increased annual fees for the upcoming academic year by up to 30% this year. This means you pay `6 lakh a year for a child in kindergarten, nearly 7 lakh for primary, and 8 lakh for higher secondary. In traditional CBSE schools, the fee varies between 50,000 and 1 lakh for 2025-26."What I am paying for my three-year-old son's school is way more than what I paid for my entire school education," said Lalitha Selvamani, a high school teacher in a private school. "I decided to put him here because most of my colleagues are sending their kids to such schools. I want a smooth transition to primary and higher education too," she said.Similar comments from others in a parents' WhatsApp group, along with screenshots of fee structures, triggered debates on affordability and value. "The fees keep increasing every year, but what's changing in terms of quality? The classrooms still look the same, and the focus is more on gimmicks like iPads rather than real teaching improvements," said S Deepa, of Anna Nagar, whose four-year-old daughter studies in a private school. Others argue that traditional schools don't have quality teachers or a holistic curriculum.Some traditional schools offer integrated coaching for competitive exams such as JEE and NEET from Class VI, which may cost 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh a year, but the facility is not available in all schools. "If my child goes to a traditional school with at least 50 students packed in a classroom, she may not be smart enough to get admitted to colleges abroad," said Saraswathi Narayanan, a housewife whose daughter is in Class V. "I want her to be prepared for admission to the best universities. International schools give them the push. I don't want her to spend the day in school and evenings in coaching classes," she said.Some parents, such as Arjun Raguraman of Adyar, accept they may have to pay through their nose to send children to international schools. "The problem is most international schools are on the outskirts. This means we must pay for food and transport as well," he said.Parents in middle-income households sending children to traditional schools say schooling has become expensive. "The annual tuition fee for Class I is 1 lakh. But we pay double to cover transport, books, and extracurricular activities and clubs," said Shalini Narayan, a parent from T Nagar. The fee regulation committee in Tamil Nadu has capped annual fee hikes at 10% but requires schools to submit detailed proposals for fee approvals. Private schools, however, argue that the steep fees are driven by increasing operational expenses. "Parents expect schools to be a safe place, taking care of the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the kids. Many schools are adopting edtech solutions to gamify lessons, provide an audio-video environment for storytelling, and turn classrooms smart. All this comes at a cost," said educator and adviser to SRM Public Schools K R Maalathi.