A costly affair, but pvt schools still cast a spell

Madurai: The state of govt-run schools may have improved in leaps and bounds, but it has not dampened the craze of a large section of people to opt for private schools for their wards. Many parents still hope to ensure quality education for their children in schools which they perceive to have superior infrastructure and better student-teacher ratio. However, studying in private schools comes at a cost which has only been going up every year, from fees to uniform, stationery, and ‘recurring expenses' throughout the year.Indeed, there are regulations to prevent excess fee collections, but lack of awareness among parents, coupled with schools using loopholes increases the financial burden on parents who enrol their child in a private school. R Kavitha, a mother of two, recently got admission for her daughter in UKG at a private CBSE school in Madurai. She says the overall annual fees, along with additional expenses easily add up to Rs1 lakh. While the tuition fees was around Rs50,000, other expenses, from uniform, transport, special and extracurricular fees, pushed up the overall amount. "I never imagined that the school fees would go up so high in Madurai as in cities like Chennai or Coimbatore. We decided it was the best CBSE school in our neighbourhood. We don't want to compromise so we are forced to pay," she said. S Jawahar said that his daughter who studies in Class VI in a private matriculation higher secondary school, often ends up paying little amounts throughout the year apart from Rs 70,000 as school fees. "For taking part in some activity or other, the school collects some money, even Rs1,000, if collected time and again, adds up to expenses. Transport fees are also increased 5%-10% every year," he added.P B Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System - Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), said Tamil Nadu Private Schools Fee Determination Committee fixes fees for each school under Tamil Nadu state board. "The committee can issue notice to any school that has not submitted a proposal with its expenses for fixing the fee. The fee structure also should be displayed in all the schools. Parents can come forward to file complaints in case of violations, but, they are often hesitant," he said. The fee determination committee also cannot fix the fee for private schools run under CBSE and other boards.A correspondent of a private school added that some private schools are pushing up fees arbitrarily as the committee can only fix tuition fees based on expenses submitted by the schools. "Every three years, the committee allows schools to raise fees by 10% if they submit a new proposal. The ideal way to regulate should be for a fixed upper limit overall that would include all expenses, not just tuition," he added.