Raising School fees in Bangalore, Where will our Kids study?

Glued on May 6th, 2007 by Chandramouli

All of us know about inflation; increasing prices in Metros and also cities like Bangalore (Officially not a metro yet, and I don’t know why) and of course the most common analogy, which our aunt’s quote i.e.local auto meter to the raising prices of vegetables. However, I doubt how many of us have experienced the exponential growth of school fees inBangalore.As I experienced this in Bangalore, I keep referring it back to this city.Otherwise, I am sure it is the case of all Metro’s in India.

It happened few months back while I got the esteemed opportunity of selecting a kindergarten for my niece to start her education. My sister and her kid had just relocated from Malaysia and they sought for my help in finding a good school in

Bangalore. Coming from a consulting background and vendor selection and analysis being my forte, I accepted it readily. Now was my chance to visit few renowned schools in the East part of

Bangalore. I would keep the school names anonymous but will tell you the facts.

School 1: I visited a catholic convent, which is well known for its discipline and teaching methodologies. The school is about 40 yrs old and has a huge legacy behind. When I went there, I was surprised to see few 100 parents standing in Queue for the application form. After muscling through the queue and reaching the concerned person for details, I got to know that the admissions were over within 2 days of opening(The Queue was for general enquiry) and now kids have to wait in the list. They said we are full on the first day of opening admissions etc.etc boasting about their reputation. For curiosity, I asked them the fee structure and they redirected me the notice board. I saw the shock of my life when the fee for a Nursery class was Rs 40,000. I could not believe my eyes and had re look at it to confirm. Yes, the fee for nursery was Rs. Fourty thousand only(Rs. 40,000 /-). I had no words for myself, with a grin on my face I started to meet to checkout School 2 on my list.On wheels, I started thinking about My Engineering College fees. I graduated from a Govt college and an annual fee for General Merit (GM) was rougly Rs. 5000 including books. Therefore, for 4 years of my engineering I had spent about Rs. 20,000 overall. My Pre-university fee was about Rs 5000 for 2 years. Therefore, I had literally finished my college education (

Pre

University and Bachelors) in about Quarter Lakh (Rs. 25,000 /-). School 2: I am parked in front of a big beautiful glass building which resembles an IT park. By having the grace of fully loaded security guard. As, i entered the school lobby Wow, I could see the Microsoft office in the school. I had seen the pictures of Microsoft’s mount view office and this was second to none in comparison. I plunged into a beautiful red couch and was waiting for school authorities to address me. This school had started it operations and calls itself a “Mickey Mouse International school.” The builder and trustees has spent whooping dough to get this structure up. There was a beautiful aquarium, which I stared for almost 10 minutes until a well-dressed woman walked up to me and grabbed attention.Not talking much about the beauty of the person (thought I wondered why a school would need such a manequine) I talked to her about my niece and her age. Lady handed over a school flyer, which was extremely well designed collateral about their capabilities (IT services company can surely take few tips about making marketing collaterals from the school or hire the same consultant who helped the Mickey institute). After taking a quick look at it I asked her “Can you please brief me the fee structure” and the fun started all over again.She said “Sir, we charge Seventy Thousand rupees per annum (With her American accent I heard it as Seventeen i.e. 17) which does not include Uniform, books and School pick and drop. I had to ask her again to know that what she meant was Rupees Seventy thousand and not seventeen thousand.Quick Math: Fees = Rs. 70,000 + Uniform (~ 3000) + Books (~ 2000) + School cab (~ 8000) all-inclusive it was about Rs. 83,000. This was almost twice as much as School 1 charged with great experience under their belt. I was speechless for about 10 seconds, but politely took her leave.While I talked this with a friend of mine, she said an international school in

Delhi accepts only students born to expatriates and charges about 8L per annum for class 7. Wow, dedicated service to the rich and elite.

If this continues the way it is, schooling would never be the same. There would be huge void in the education system because of the cost and no government can solve this issue. If a parents have to spend Rs. 85,000 /- for 1 year of their kids education while the mean annual household income of Indian’s is only ~ USD 735 i.e. 35,000 per year.

I will get back to you with further math on the total cost incurred for a kid born now to complete engineering after 22 yrs. Until then keep thinking as to where you want your kids to study. Watch this column again.

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9 Responses to “Raising School fees in Bangalore, Where will our Kids study?”

  1. Arun, on May 7th, 2007 at 5:42 am Said:

    It’s true that the cost of education is reaching skywards. It’s challenge for parents to give best of education to their childrens.

  2. Ravi, on July 24th, 2007 at 2:58 pm Said:

    yes mouli,

    Now a days schooling has become a business these days,,,
    the thing is if you want the best(Which u think is best),,,,,u got to shell a lot from your pocket.
    There should be govt rules(Strict) regarding schooling…..but no one is bothered regarding this….

    The only solution is people should say ‘NOOO’ to the school’s where they charge more….this should be followed by each and every parent (i think the extreme 1…..and impossible in current situation).

    I would like to tell u the other case also,there are some real good schools where the fees are very less..one such school is ’spandana’…(ravi belegere’s),there are many but have to find one………

  3. GalaKidz » Blog Archive » Bangalore Schools: Fees & Quality of Education, on December 4th, 2007 at 5:47 am Said:

    […] Every family who has recently moved to Bangalore with their children either from abroad or from another city within India - has one common concern - Bangalore Schools! How good are these schools ? Which one is the right one for our kid? What’s the fee structure like? And the list of questions just goes on.. Following two articles are worth reading that will highlight the two major factors related to schools: Fees & Quality of Education […]

  4. Kavita Joshi, on March 24th, 2008 at 7:20 am Said:

    After reading this information, I don’t know what to do. I completed my engeneering studies by spending 40000/- and here for LKG they are asking so much. I don’t know what will be the scenario when the time will come for me to go and look for the school for my son. Hmmm… In the end I might go for my native and make him study there.

  5. dc, on April 5th, 2008 at 1:15 am Said:

    Anybody can advise what is the average international schoole fee for G 8 and G10. I have an offer to work in Bangalore.
    Thanks

  6. sxp, on April 8th, 2008 at 2:44 pm Said:

    Hello all,
    Why you are sending your kids to these expensive school?
    There is no other middle class affordable school?
    My daughter is studying in a public school.
    Think about ur pocket before spending each penny.There are people who can afford that,they can go for it………

  7. Samant, on May 5th, 2008 at 6:00 pm Said:

    Probably they charge so much because they need to run the school by paying ‘good’ teachers (who are now a rare commodity). Also for the land, infra etc.. but all said and done 40k-70k for nursery is beyond logic….proabably a price for being in Blr. :)

  8. Roseline, on September 24th, 2008 at 9:01 am Said:

    Nothing comes free in life :-)
    If you want good education, you gotta pay more.
    If not, try a govt. school the fees is less and the quality of education is even worse…

    This is market economy, man…. survival of the fittest…
    The government and the politician are busy making rules favouring the rich… Don’t expect them to solve any of these problems…

  9. Suresh S, on October 10th, 2008 at 3:24 am Said:

    Whatever it is ,only students from goverment schools comes state first

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