Indias private school aspiration increasingly out of reach as inflation bites

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Manoj Kumarp

pNEW DELHI Reuters – Indian financial consultant Waqar Khan has seen his income drop by about a fifth since the coronavirus pandemic began. When his younger sons private school raised fees by 10 this year, he had no choice but to move him to the state system.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pWith three children and living in a small house in the capital, New Delhi, the 45yearold can no longer afford private school fees for his boy of 10. He moved his older boy into a state school in early in 2021.p

p“I had no option,” Khan told Reuters, adding that rising education costs had come on top of a nearly 25 increase in household expenses in the past two years.p

pWhile inflation is putting the heaviest burden on the poorest, the relatively welloff are coming under the sort of pressure to make cuts in household budgets not seen in years.p

pKhan is among millions of parents who have moved children from private to state education since 2020, or from elite schools to cheaper ones. In 2021, four million children switched from private to state, more than 4 of all children in school.p

pThat is a reversal of a trend that has swept India over the past two decades, as more families in an increasingly prosperous society opted for private education to give their children an advantage in the job market.p

pBut now inflation means that such aspirations are becoming unaffordable for some.p

p“My family life is shattered. I often feel distressed and helpless at being unable to provide good education for my children despite all the hard work,” Khan said.p

pHis daughter, a 12th grade student, is still at the school where his 10yearold had been, as he has not been able to find a place in the state system for her.p

pFor the fastgrowing middle class, the appeal of lessons in English and better teaching is huge.p

pThe private sector covers a range of schools and fees, from a few dollars a month to hundreds, and so serves lower and middleincome families as well as the wealthy.p

pOn top of fees, transport companies that take children to school have raised prices by more than 15 this month in Delhi and some other places to cover higher wages and fuel, parents associations said.p

pArjun Singh, 47, who drives a school van and owns three school cabs, said he increased his charges by up to 35 in April because of higher costs. Prices for compressed natural gas CNG for his vehicles had almost doubled, he said.p

pBroader inflation is biting hard, touching 6.95 in March – a 17month high and above the central banks target, and economists say that households are bracing for worse as companies pass on the costs.p

p‘ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES’p

pMany private schools have raised fees and other charges by more than 15 this year, said Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, although some had delayed doing so during the worst of the pandemic. p

pHer association has protested at a number of private schools in the capital, drawing the attention of the media and authorities.p

pIn response, Delhis government has simplified the procedure for enrolling in state education and promised to audit school accounts, while trying to encourage schools to cap fee increases at 10, with little success.p

p“Most private schools are forcing parents to accept steep hikes or face adverse consequences,” Gautam said.p

pIn the city of Kolkata, nearly 70 of private schools raised fees by up to 20 last month, and some parents have asked authorities to press schools to soften the blow.p

pSchools defend the higher fees.p

pSudha Acharya, head of the National Progressive Schools Conference and principal at ITL Public School, understood that many parents were going through tough times but schools faced rising costs.p

p“Without increasing school fees again, maintaining quality is a little difficult,” she said.p

pThe Delhibased Centre Square Foundation, a consultancy, found in a 2021 study that a majority of 450,000 private schools in India, 70 of which charged up to 1,000 rupees 13 a month per student, faced financial losses of 2050 during the pandemic.p

pAs parents defaulted, some schools cut teachers pay and thousands of schools, particularly those catering to lowerincome families, closed, according to school associations and state authorities.p

pEnrolment in private schools has skyrocketed to more than 35 of students from about 9 in 1993, and nearly 50 of households spend nearly 20 of their earnings on childrens education, according to government and industry estimates.p

pA family with monthly income of 20,00050,000 rupees 260650 might pay 2,00010,000 rupees a month on tuition and another 1,5005,000 rupees on transport.p

pDEBT TRAPp

pThere are about 90 million Indian children in private schools in total.p

pFederal and state governments spent 6.43 trillion rupees 84 billion to fund about 1.1 million schools in 201920, or about 3.1 of gross domestic product against 6 recommended by various government panels.p

pEconomists said rising private education costs were not fully captured in inflation data, as it is weighted at just 4.5 in the consumer prices index based on a decadeold model.p

pDevendra Pant, chief economist at India Ratings, the Indian arm of the Fitch rating agency, said rising education costs were part of a second wave of inflation households were facing after a rise in global crude oil and other commodity prices.p

p“It would significantly impact households monthly budget and could force many to cut spending on other products and services.”p

pSome parents have been caught in a nightmare debt trap that could rob their children of education altogether.p

pSanjay Kumar Vaghela, a driver in Ahmedabad city who had to borrow money after losing work, said he could not afford to pay the higher fees for his daughter nor clear the 18,000 rupees he still owed her school.p

pThe school asked him to pay the outstanding fees before it issued a transfer certificate, without which no state school was prepared to admit his daughter, he said.p

p“My daughter may remain without education forever as I have no funds to pay,” he said.p

p1 76.4830 Indian rupeesp

p

pp Additional reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, Rupak De Chowdhuri in Kolkata, Swati Bhat in Mumbai Editing by Mike CollettWhite and Robert Birselp

divdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivdivdiv