In today's time, people's purchasing power has declined significantly due to inflation and high living costs. The situation is particularly concerning in metro cities, where exorbitant residential property costs and sky-high prices of goods and services make a huge dent in people's pockets. Amid this, a real estate consultant in Gurugram took to X to complain about his son's expensive school fees, which consistently keeps compounding at 10% per annum.
Udit Bhandari shared that his son, who is in Grade 3, goes to a reputed CBSE school in Gurugram and the monthly fee is Rs 30,000. Mr Bhandari calculated that if the school continues to hike its fees by 10 per cent every year, he would have to pay around Rs 9,00,000 per annum as fees when his son reaches Class 12.
''My son's school fees have been consistently compounding at 10%/annum. The school does not even bother to explain the hike and the higher fee simply appears on the payment app! When parents protested, they said please look for another school for your kids,'' he wrote on X.
Many parents who are going through a similar situation resonated with his tweet and expressed their opinions in the comment section.
One user wrote, ''I see the following reasons for extraordinarily high fees charged by private schools in India: - Pvt schools aren't regulated. - They are big businesses, running for profits. - There is a massive demand-supply gap. - Parents have only 1 kid in most cases, and they want to give their best. - Govt schools are pathetic. The homeschooling concept hasn't yet caught up in India.''
Another commented, ''The government should intervene and add a cap on private school fees. But it seems I'm expecting too much from the government.''
A third said, ''Any unregulated marketplace will have such issues. Bangalore is no different. The entire fee we might have paid in our entire lives, we end up paying annually for a kid in kindergarten these days.''
A fourth added, ''What would be the cost of education in the next 10 years I wonder?? Only a select few would be able to afford it…is this the direction in which our education system be heading…I wonder.'' A fifth said, ''This is so relatable. Unexplained hike in school fees has become a norm with private schools. Education has become a business.''
Yet another added, ''This is outrageous! Schools should be transparent about fee hikes and have a dialogue with parents. Education is a right, not a luxury!''
A similar tweet on people's decreasing purchasing power went viral recently. The user named Akshat Shrivastava quipped that ₹ 1 crore is not sufficient enough to buy a decent house in Mumbai, Delhi, or Gurugram. Mr Shrivastava also said that the amount is not enough for parents to send their kids abroad for a good MBA program, nor international schools in cities like New Delhi.
