The new Common Entrance Test (CET) format to be introduced from next year onwards has come as a windfall for coaching classes, who are leaving no stone unturned to exploit students by charging anywhere between Rs 1.5 to Rs 2.5 lakh for package deals, which include tutorials for Class 11, 12 and the CET.
While parents have no option, but to pay up, class owners have claimed that the vastness of the syllabus and the rising cost of hiring expert faculty has forced them to hike the fees.
Speaking on the exorbitant amounts being charged by class owners, an exasperated parent Sohail Lakhani said that the exploitation was outrageous, but as he wanted his daughter to pursue engineering, he was forced to shell out `1.70 lakh for admission to a coaching class in Andheri. “I had to enroll my daughter to the coaching class even before the SSC results were out. At the time, most coaching classes were offering discounts. Though it was difficult, I managed it through a loan,” said Mr Lakhani, a resident of Versova.
Justifying the decision of the coaching class owners hiking the fees, Prof. N. Bhambwani, vice-president of the Maharashtra Class Owners Association said, “The package includes tutorials for Class 11 and 12, as well as CET. If the three are broken up, the cost comes up to around Rs 50,000 per segment; then, Rs 1.5 lakh is an affordable amount. However, some of the other reasons for higher fees include high cost of renting classrooms, poaching of faculty, providing luxurious classrooms etc.”
Jayant Jain, president of Forum for Fairness in Education (FFE) said that unless the “government stepped in, the exploitation was only bound to increase”.