Will you continue traditional school this year?

just felt Felt like calculating how much I have spent on my son's education so far

Preschool - paid 40,000 and decided to discontinue after 15 days. they started giving my son worksheets to write letters (the class had already reached the letter M by the time we joined and it was scary to start letters when my son was 2 years)

Pre-Kg - 1 lakh admission fee and 1 lakh yearly fee+ 40,000 bus fee (paid upfront)

Adi learned to sit in the class, and he was enjoying it so much that teachers had a long list of complaints end of the year

UKG and LKG - 2 lakh fee per anum, no school bus this time (we managed to commute with a personal car and shared van) (Cambridge curriculum)

Adi learned to read with combined efforts from school and home

Grade 1 and 2 - changed school, around 1 lakh school fee per anum (Cambridge curriculum)

Adi made some good friends

Grade 3 - Online School (Cambridge curriculum) paid around 67k

It was COVID, We started learning together. Adi became a self-directed learner, he had time to read and travel.

Grade 4 - continuing online school, school fees around 70k

Adi explores coding, he talks about business almost all the time, he wants to understand money and he wants to travel and loves to learn.

I always wanted to escape the heavy school fees and hopefully, I can slowly as we start exploring more affordable schooling options like alternate learning or homeschooling.

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The pressure to educate kids in expensive schools in India?

The cost of education has been rising at an alarming rate in India. In the last decade alone, the average cost of sending a child to a private school has more than doubled. And it's not just the fees that are going up – the cost of textbooks, uniforms, and other school-related expenses have also been on the rise.

School fees in India have been on the rise in recent years. In some cases, fees have more than doubled in just a few years. This has put a lot of financial pressure on families, especially those with more than one child in school.

Recently a friend of mine decided to pull her kids out of international school and send them to a local school instead. The reason? The fees were just too high. She simply couldn’t afford it anymore.

I know many families who are in the same boat. They want their children to get a good education, but they simply can’t afford the high fees.

She had always believed that international schools are best for her children’s education and future prospects but she is so happy that she made the switch.

In fact, she also told me that her kids are under less pressure now as they do not feel inferior to their very rich friends in international schools. Her kids are doing well in academics too. She was surprised that her fear to have her kid in a local school was unfounded.

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How much will the parents have to pay?

The admission fee in school ranges from Rs. 50,000 to 1,00,000 per child. The parents also have to pay an additional amount of Rs. 60,000 – 80,000 per year towards tuition fees and other expenses such as books and uniforms. The fee rises by 15-20% every year in most schools. Additional costs are transport fees and canteen.

If we calculate, the total expenditure on education for a child from Class 1-12 would be approximately Rs. 20-30 lakhs in today’s time. This is a huge amount and it is increasing every year.

This means that a family with two children in school could be paying anywhere from Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh per year on education expenses...

This is a huge amount of money, especially for middle-class families. Even families who are upper middle class would find it difficult to shell out this much money every year.

The cost of extra tuition after school?

In addition to the high school fees, parents also have to spend extra tuition for their children. This is because the competition to get into good colleges is so fierce that students need all the help they can get.

The average cost of extra tuition is anywhere from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15,000 per month. of course, higher-grade students have to spend more considering they need tutors for every subject.

This is an unsustainable situation

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What are the long-term implications?

The rising cost of education is not just a short-term problem. It has long-term implications as well.

For one, it could lead to a situation where only the rich are able to afford a good education. This would further widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

It could lead to a situation where parents are forced to take on debt to pay for their children’s education. This would put an additional burden on the family finances.

Why parents are scared to take an alternate path?

The main reason why parents are not willing to explore alternate options is that they are afraid of the unknown. They are scared that their children will not get a good education if they do not go to one of the top schools.

They are also worried about the social implications. They are worried that their children will not be able to mix with the right crowd if they do not go to the right school.

Parents do not want to compromise with the facilities in these schools like small class sizes, air-conditioned classrooms, digital teaching aids, experienced teachers, and a good curriculum.

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Parents taking an alternate path to education?

Given the high cost of education, many parents are now looking at alternatives. Some are opting for online schooling or homeschooling. Others are sending their children to government schools.

Some parents are even considering moving to cheaper cities so that they can save on school fees. This is a big decision and it’s not something that everyone can do.

In cities, both parents have to work to be able to afford the high cost of living. This leaves little time for children. If parents move to a cheaper city, they would have to sacrifice their jobs and their standard of living.

The other option is to send your kids to boarding school. This is a popular option among the rich but it’s not something that everyone can afford.

I know some families where one of the parents who had chosen to stay home initially is now working just to be able to school fees.

Parents are driven with fear like they are stuck in a loop and it will take a lifetime to come out of it. I have a friend who is so tired of the heavy fee structure but he cannot take the risk of pulling his kids out, he is scared that the kids will not be able to adjust to the culture of any other school. He is taken loans and he cannot quit his job to save some money because his income is just enough to sustain their monthly expenses.

We need to have the guts to take an alternate path, the traditional education system is not affordable anymore and it is creating a lot of financial burden on families. The mental peace that we get by sending our kids to good schools is short-lived because we are always worried about how to pay the next fee installment.

We should start looking at other options and give our children the best education that we can without breaking the bank.

The first step is to start exploring other options and not be afraid to take a risk. The second step is to have a conversation with other parents about the challenges that we are facing.

We need to come up with creative solutions so that our children can get a good education without us having to take on debt or make sacrifices that we are not comfortable with.

https://www.joinprisma.com/blog/why-is-school-so-boring