Remember that school from banglore which charges 2 lakhs for Pre KG Admission, The fee card went on to be viral on all the social media platforms, The news created quite a buzz and the school has recieved so much of negative publicity, Entire nation was talking about that school, But wait is it the only school in our country which charges that much? Absolutely not! The School is just one of the thousands of schools which charges in Lakhs in the name of Admission fee, Not many has the voice to raise against them, That’s why these schools don’t make much of a buzz, But unfortunately the Bishop Cotton Boys School from Banglore has caught the eyes of people and blamed rightly. This is what the principal of that school has to say about the issue.

While talking to Bangalore Mirror Mr.Giriraj who bought up this issue on social media said “It is not only about Bishop Cotton School, this is happening everywhere. Education has become too expensive these days. If one school does it, the other schools start to raise their fee keeping this as a benchmark,” He also said “The schools have been collecting building and infrastructure fee for many years now. How many years will they keep collecting this? Will they keep on building new blocks every year?”. It’s not just about Bishop Cotton Boys School, BM (Bangalore Mirror) accessed the fee structure of various schools across the city, And the numbers were mind-blowing. A reputed school in JP Nagar Banglore which doesn’t even have a playground charges 2.5 lakh for Pre-KG Admission. The school gives a receipt for just 1.5 lakh and the remaining 1 lakh is put under the category of ‘Developmental Charges” Which obviously never happened, A school which doesn’t even have a playground charging 1 lakh as development charges which only they can justify.

The Donation Fee:

Many of the parents have only one question, Why on earth we have to pay 1 lakh or above as donation? Schools without general facilities like Playground are charging lakhs of the amount in the name of development, Shankar KR, a parent, said, “We have no worries about the admission fee or the tuition fee. The only thing bothering us is the donation amount we are made to pay in different names. One school calls it development fee, another school calls it contribution. While other schools list out everything and say these are the charges for various activities at the school. There are schools which say this is for the annual cultural festival and sports festival at the school. Why are we burdened with what the school has to do?”

Isn’t his concern true? He is just one of many, Another parent Sujatha N, a parent and child protection committee member, told BM, “If the government could provide quality education to all like in the UK and some other countries, every parent would choose that. As far as high schools fees are concerned, we feel that it’s given back to the children in many ways. In comparison to other schools, Cotton’s is being transparent by printing the fee structure. The fees are paid into the bank directly and we get receipts for what we pay.”

When asked about this the principal of Bishop Cotton Boys School has just one thing to say ” Education is Not a Business” When the Bangalore Mirror approached Professor John K Zachariah, principal of Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, he has said that “For us, education is not a business. What parents pay as school fee is pumped back to the child in every possible way.” Only they know how they pump it back.

When asked about he said, “This is something unusual. The institution has a record of being the best school in the city and everyone is aware of the fee structure. We are publically putting it out on our school dairies. We are totally transparent about the school’s fee, unlike others who do not disclose the break-up of the fee.”

He also said that this is one-time admission fee which means they charge this only once when the parents join their child. When asked about the double tuition fee for NRI students the principal said,“Last year, we had only two to three students and, this year, we have only one student who comes under NRI category. Even that student’s parents are returning to India very soon and they have applied for a refund and we have already initiated the process. Where is the question of having a big doubt here?”. But he skipped why they even need to charge double.

When this matter was taken to D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Management of English Medium Schools in Karnataka, what he said is “Any school has the liberty to fix the fee at the entry level which should be meaningful and should be on the books with income and expenditure. There should not be exorbitant surplus. A meaningful 10% to 15% surplus can be maintainable which is utilized for institution’s growth.”

Yes they are free to fix the fee but that shouldn’t make education a luxury in the society, Education is a common need just like food and water. Hope government takes any action regarding this.