63% parents say schools increased fees despite lectures being held online: Survey

Schools have been conducting lectures online for more than 15 months now, but fee hikes continue to remain a concern for parents

Schools have been conducting lectures online for more than 15 months now, but fee hikes continue to remain a concern for parents. A survey – in which 15,950 parents from across the country participated – has revealed that 63% respondents mentioned that their children’s schools had hiked fees, even though classes are being conducted online completely and 65% said that their respective state governments have been ineffective in regulating school fees during the Covid-19 outbreak.

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“In separate incidents, parents from across the country have been protesting against unjust school managements hiking fees in private schools. Several states, such as Uttar Pradesh, have directed schools to not hike fees, and the Supreme Court, too, has asked school managements not to insist on payment of fees for facilities not used by students. But the unrest among parents persists,” said a report made public by LocalCircles, a community social media platform enabling citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy enforcement and interventions.

The survey further highlighted that those who were forced to pay an increased fee for the 2021-22 academic year, nearly 33% are bearing a 20% increase in the annual fees.

“Hike in school fees is a fight between parents and the management every year, and most times, the school managements give no explanation behind the hike. However, in a year when families have been struck emotionally and economically, the least these schools can do is maintain the same fee structure,” said Anju Mehta, a parent activist who has regularly fought against private school managements in the state. She added that the incapability of state mechanism to control private school managements is the root cause of the problem.

At the same time, school heads have time and again highlighted that whatever costs they have saved by non-usage of certain facilities, have been instead invested in providing digital education to students.

“Several schools have invested in software and software expert companies to handle virtual classrooms and ensure that regular classes are not affected. None of these have come cheap, and in order to continue good quality education, we have no choice but to hike fees. Most schools have also given the option of fee payment in instalments to parents, knowing the financial burden everyone is facing,” said the principal of a south Mumbai school, on condition of anonymity.

Previously, LocalCircles had also conducted a survey of 19,000 parents where 76% of the respondents said that they are not ready to send their children to school unless there is no Covid-19 case in their districts or till all the children are vaccinated first. Interestingly, over 65% respondents have said that their children receive the Covid-19 vaccine if it is made available for kids by September.