You wouldn’t think a toddler would cost quite so much to educate, but elite international schools in Hyderabad are charging Rs 4 lakh per annum for pre-primary admission.
For secondary and higher secondary classes, the fees vary between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh. This is besides an additional capitation fee/ donation of up to Rs 1.5 lakh.
A majority of the students seeking admission in these schools are children of expatriate Indians based in the US, Canada, Australia, Dubai, and the UAE. There is no state law to regulate schools offering the International Bacca-laureate and other global curricula. These schools collect sizeable fees under different heads, thus evading the old capitation fee which has been declared illegal.
International schools have hiked fees by up to 50 per cent this year, citing increased “operational costs”. A top international school has sent a new “fee chart” to parents, asking them to pay a tuition fee of Rs 1 lakh, a term fee of Rs 2 lakh, a transportation fee of Rs 24,000, a lunch fee of Rs 24,000, an extra fee of Rs 10,000, amounting to a total of Rs 3.58 lakh per annum for Class I.
The schools offer facilities such as squash courts, laptops and wi-fi enabled campuses, which will attract parents. The managements show discrimination in the collection of fees. While there will be a 15 per cent fee hike for old students, it is a 50 per cent hike for new students. The fee structure varies within the same class, which is unjustifiable.
Their curriculum exte-nds to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education and International Baccalau-reate Diploma programme.