DK schools to hike fees by up to 15%

Mangaluru: Schools in Dakshina Kannada are going for a 7-15% fee hike for admissions for the next academic year (2023-2024). The maximum hike for 2022-23 was around 10%. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the school associations have suggested to their member schools not to hike fees beyond 10-15% and urged them to be reasonable.
The school fee of an ICSE school in the city which was around Rs 36,000 for 2022-23 has been increased to Rs 42,000. At a CBSE school, a hike of around Rs 5,000 has been reported. The fee for 2022-23 was Rs 38,000. A state syllabus school has also increased the fees to Rs 12,000 for 2023-24 from Rs 10,000. Some schools had not increased the fee for the last two years and a few schools have increased their school building fees.

Fr Melwyn Anil Lobo, principal of St Aloysius Gonzaga School, said they had not increased fees for a year after Covid. “This time, we have made a maximum fee hike of 7%, though we can hike up to 15%. The parents are happy with the move as it will not cause much financial burden on them,” said Fr Lobo.
Mount Carmel Central School, a CBSE school, has raised its fees by approximately 7-8%. For 2022-23, the fee hike was around 6%, said Sr Melissa, principal of the school. “In fact, the school had reduced the fee during Covid,” she said.
Another CBSE school had reportedly hiked building fees and had made no change in its fee structure.
Little Rock Indian School in Brahmavar, Udupi, has increased fees by 10%. The school’s director Mathew C Ninan told TOI, “There was no fee hike for two years as we were aware that parents had financial constraints due to Covid-19. Instead, we had given fee waivers to many children.” Many school representatives felt that a fee hike was inevitable because of the price rise of all commodities and a pay hike has to be given to the staff members every year.