April 4, 2025, New Delhi: As schools reopen for the new academic year session, one of the biggest concerns of many parents is how they are going to cope with the burden of further hike in fees across all classes in most private schools.

Education in India whether in big or small cities has become increasingly expensive, with skyrocketing school fees burdening parents. Private schools, especially those offering international curriculums, charge premium fees. While the rich may be able to afford the exorbitant fees, middle-class and lower-income families face financial hardships, often sacrificing essential expenses or borrowing to prioritize their children’s education.

In Hyderabad, parents of children seeking admissions for pre-primary and primary sections (LKG to class 3) in private schools for the upcoming academic year, are agitated as the schools are demanding double the existing fees. Some parents have alleged that no government order has been issued so far to regulate these fees. They have urged the Education Department to intervene.

In Bengaluru parents have objected to several schools announcing a 10% to 30% increase in school fees for the 2025-26 academic year and questioned the rationale behind the annual fee hike exercise. Many schools have started collecting first-term fees for the next academic year. While some have stuck to the 10%-15% annual revision, others have raised it higher.

The Association of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka has defended the hike arguing that institutions need to revise teachers' pay annually if they don’t want competitors to poach them. Also, there is an increase in associated teaching costs.

This argument has been questioned by parents. As one parent has tweeted on ‘X’: “Every year, private schools hike fees by 10%-40% — no explanation, no improvement, just a new demand. Parents, already struggling with job cuts, rising taxes and home loans, are drowning. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra regulate school fees. Karnataka tried, but legal battles stalled its progress. Schools continue unchecked, knowing parents have no choice."

The Ministry of Education’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report for 2023-24 reveals that student enrolment decreased to 24.8 crore in 2023-24, a drop of over one crore compared to the previous years. This marks a 6% decline from the 26.02 crore recorded in 2018-19. The substantial drop in enrolment raises concerns about the effectiveness of current educational policies and the need for targeted interventions.

Given the significance of education in achieving UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Viksit Bharat objectives, it is necessary that the central and state governments focus on improving the infrastructure and quality of education in state-run schools if they cannot check the private schools from profiteering. Already, thousands of parents would be in debt in the quest to give their children the best educational advantage for future career prospects.

Schools in India are supposed to be trusts and not a for profit enterprise. Despite this, many schools according to parents, cater to their owners via direct benefits like high salaries or indirect benefits where supplies like books, uniforms, transportation etc. is furnished through businesses owned by them. Complaints about such practices are also received regularly by LocalCircles. In other cases, some schools have gone to the extent of delivering education via private companies, raising capital from financial investors and then exiting it like a business to overseas schools. Multiple such instances have been reported by parents making them question the enforcement by various Government agencies. With many politicians also being owners of private schools, concerns have been raised by parents about a conflict of interest when it comes to enforcement by the state governments.

With over 100 complaints received just within March and April from different parts of India regarding excessive school fee increases, LocalCircles has conducted a survey to quantify the school fee increase. The survey received over 31,000 responses from parents of school going children located in 309 districts of India. 62% respondents were men while 38% respondents were women. 41% of respondents were from tier 1, 25% from tier 2 and 34% respondents were from tier 3, 4, 5 and rural districts.

44% parents surveyed say the school their children go to have increased fees by 50-80% over the last 3 years period

The Supreme Court had ruled in 2021 that states cannot interfere with the autonomy of private unaided schools to set and collect fees. They can however regulate the fee structure to prevent profiteering and commercialization. The survey asked parents/ guardians of school going children, “How much has the school your children/ grandchildren go to increase the total fee in percentage terms in the last 3 years, i.e. between 2022 and 2025?” Out of 15,461 who responded to the question 8% stated “over 80%” hike in fees; 36% of respondents stated between “50-80%” hike; 8% of respondents stated “30-50%" hike; 27% of respondents stated “10-30%” hike; 8% of respondents however stated there has been “no change in fee during this period” while 13% of respondents stated “we changed schools so hard to tell or can’t say”. To sum up, 44% of parents surveyed say the school their children go to have increased fees by 50-80% over the last 3 years period.

93% of parents surveyed say that their State Government has not been effective in capping or limiting excessive fee increases by schools

From time to time some of the state government and courts have strived to intervene to check steep increases in fees of unaided private schools, which charge fees under several heads previously unheard of. The survey asked parents, “Has your state government been effective in capping or limiting excessive fee increases by schools?” Out of 16,018 who responded to the question only 7% of respondents stated “yes, they have been” while 46% of respondents stated "no, they talk but they fail to make any impact” and 47% of respondents stated “no, they have not even taken up the issue”. To sum up, 93% of parents surveyed say that their State Government has not been effective in capping or limiting excessive fee increases by schools.

In summary, the need of the hour is to help children access quality education at affordable fees. It is not enough to get them admitted into schools but also provide them with the best facilities in terms of learning and infrastructure. However, in most cases quality education is becoming a privilege of rich and well-off families as 44% of parents surveyed say the school their children go to has increased fees by 50-80% over the last 3 years period. Effective enforcement by state and district administrations has been lacking with 93% of parents surveyed saying that their State Government has not been effective in capping or limiting excessive fee increases by schools.

LocalCircles plans to share the survey results with Ministry of Education and State Chief Secretaries for their interventions. With Artificial Intelligence slated to change how education is delivered to school students in the time to come, India will have to take steps immediately to ensure what schools and teachers are delivering is relevant and affordable. If schools start failing on both these fronts, the day where some parents will opt for at home learning programs with the use of AI and technology is not far.

Survey Demographics

The survey received over 31,000 responses from parents of school going children located in 309 districts of India. 62% respondents were men while 38% respondents were women. 41% of respondents were from tier 1, 25% from tier 2 and 34% respondents were from tier 3, 4, 5 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform, and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.