Primary education is becoming increasingly expensive, putting a financial strain on middle and lower middle-class families. The majority of parents prefer that their children attend English medium and CBSE schools. Because the majority of these schools are unassisted, they charge exorbitant rates. Admission to these schools requires an annual fee of Rs 1 lakh or more.
Many institutions collect fees for donations but do not provide a receipt. It has also been brought to light that certain well-known assisted schools request money.
Nilesh Dongre, a parent, said, “Officers of the educa tion department say we should complain to them if schools are charging hefty fees. But they don’t take any action against unaided schools for the same. Unaided schools don’t depend on the government, so they don’t listen to educa tion department officials.”
Most schools have increased the donation amount for the next aca demic session. The manage ment of these schools is just tifying the higher amount by saying that school fees were not hiked for two years during the Covid pan demic. While some schools have raised the amount by 10%, at others the rise is as much as 40%.