100% fee hike burns pockets, puts Hyderabad schools in India's plush league

HYDERABAD: With almost 100% rise since 2019, fee in top schools across Hyderabad is now among the highest in the country. This, despite a 'no fee hike' diktat issued during the pandemic, for two academic years. The current fee slabs in the city are on par with Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi.
"My son's fee has been hiked by 60% in the last five years," said a parent of a class 8 student adding that he is forced to shell out 95,640 this year as against 60,000 in 2019-20.

"How is this even normal? Though there has been no hike during the 2019-20 and 2020-21, the school has managed to hike fee by over 60% this time. Worse, there is no fee regulation," the parent added.
Another parent, whose children are studying at one of the top schools which was acquired by an international school chain, said: "My daughter's fee has been hiked by 1.2 lakh in the last five years. For class 4, we are paying 5.3 lakh per year." Similarly, another parent complained that his daughter's school has jumped from about 55,000 in 2019-20 to 1.2 lakh this year.
This is the story of many other schools - irrespective of whether the school falls in the 'budget' or 'international' bracket. Parents complain that the hike is unjustifiable considering that quality of education has remained the same. And this is true of other metros as well.
Story of other metros
A top school in north Delhi where the fee for class 9 was a little over 1 lakh in 2019-20, has touched 2.15 lakh for the academic year 2023-24, show records. Down south in Bengaluru too, many schools have been hiking fee by 40% every academic year. In one of the schools, in fact, the tuition fee has been revised from 1.15 lakh in 2021-22 to 1.5 lakh this year. Apart from that it is also collecting annual maintenance charges, stationery, labs, exam fee and others - adding a further burden on parents.
"It is no secret that schools are looting parents in the name of fee hikes. But Telangana is least bothered to act. We have been fighting for fee regulations for years now. Our case on the issue is also pending in the high court," said K Venkat Sainath of Hyderabad Schools Parents Association.
The members of the Independent Schools Manageme-nts Association, meanwhile, said that a 100% hike in five years is not abnormal as it will also consist of slab changes apart from yearly increases.