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School funds may not be so scarce

Tution Fee A Fraction Of Total Expenses

Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN

New Delhi: Schools have created a hue and cry about the ‘‘meagre’’ fee hike of up to Rs 500 hike allowed by the government to raise teachers’ salary in line with the 6th Pay Commission proposals. But tuition fee is not the only source of income for schools — it accounts for only 35% roughly of the total expenditure that a parent incurs in sending his child to a reasonably good private school. The rest — around 65% — of school’s earning comes from transportation, uniforms, books, student welfare fund, club activities, annual day, excursions and development fund among others.

With schools determined to take their appeal for revising the hike to courts, parents are spending sleepless nights. A parent who pays tuition fee of more than Rs 2,000 per month, ends up paying approximately Rs 90,500 annually for transportation, school uniforms and other dresses for different fests and events organised by the school. ‘‘There are schools which charge even half yearly fees which are over and above the tuition and admission fees. We spend around Rs 1.80 lakh annually on my two kids. My husband is the only earning member and now we will have to shell out Rs 12,000 extra annually for my two kids as their tuition fee will go up Rs 500 per month,’’ said Monika Sharma from RK Puram.

However, schools find the government-approved hike inadequate. The School Action Committee (SAC) has been meeting to discuss the ramification of the government decision on fee hike of private schools in the Capital and the challenges ahead. SK Bhattacharya, chairman, SAC, said: ‘‘We are going to appeal for a reconsideration on the hike. Otherwise how will the schools pay the salary of the teachers as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations?’’

But parents are so disappointed that many are considering sending their kids to government schools. Ritu Bhatia is seriously contemplating getting her second child admitted to a government school after a bitter experience in dealing with a south Delhi school from where her first child completed his class XII last year. ‘‘I cannot pay a second donation of over Rs two lakh. And that is not the end of it. And now since the government schools are performing well, I thought the risk is worth taking, she said, adding the Directorate of Education (DoE) should initiate auditing rather than waiting for complaints.

However, a senior DoE official said: ‘‘Onetime donation is a reality. But these heads cannot be audited as no records are kept. It is also not physically possible for the directorate to verify the records of each and every school.’’

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