Bringing up kids is becoming a headache for salaried parents with school fees and other lifestyle expenditure shooting up by more than 100 per cent in the last 10 years
Rahul Goyal, 30, was leading a comfortable life with his nuclear family in Gurgaon. His wife Nisha had been on a sabbatical for two years after the birth of their first child. All was well until they got their child enrolled in a renowned play way school. Initially they had to pay over Rs2 lakh and the expenses shot up dramatically thereafter.
The ‘lifestyle standard’ which they had to maintain for the ‘growing up’ child soon started to cost them a bomb. The couple had to cut their own expenses to meet the child’s needs. like Rahul, there are several others who are finding it difficult to cope with kids’ lifestyle expenditure.
latest surveys reveal how children’s upbringing has become a headache for young salaried parents in metros. According to a recent survey by ASSOCHAM, kids’ tuition fee and other expenses have gone up by 150 per cent in the last 10 years. On the other hand, the resources and earnings of parents have not kept pace with the increasing expenses on education and other crucial heads like health.
The survey highlights that school expenses of a single child, including tuition fees, have risen from Rs55,000 in 2005 to Rs1,25,000 per annum in 2015. Expressing concern over increasing cost of education, DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, said, “If we need to reap the demographic dividend, we need to focus on the quality of school education, which must be made affordable, if not free. The bias should shift back to the government role both at the centre and the states”.
In one of the surveys, nearly 1,600 working parents were interviewed in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, lucknow, Dehradun, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Chandigarh by the ASDF in months of April-May 2015. It came to limelight that nine out of 10 parents find meeting their ward’s school cost ‘very’ difficult.
Nearly one in 10 respondents indicated that the cost associated with schooling has actually affected their choice of school. Over 70 per cent of parents spend 30-40 per cent of take-home pay on their children education, placing significant burden on their family budget.
While the annual fees are on average Rs65,000 to Rs1,25,000 on single child for regular schools, even the pre- schools for those aged three to five cost parents about Rs35,000 to Rs75,000 a term.
These expenses include uniform, books, stationery, transport, sports activities, school trips, contributions to upgrade schools, school aids et al. The total expenses for learning would be many times higher than school fees.
School costs have risen at more than double the rate of inflation and come amid warnings to parents to plan early for their child’s education. It is also forcing couples to limit their families to just one child because of financial cost.
In majority of the cases, schools lay down specific uniform specifications, such as a crested jumper, a blazer or particular overcoat. Many schools require parents to purchase uniforms from a specific retailer. Very often, only one local retailer stocks and sells the uniform for a school, which means they can charge whatever price they choose in the absence of competition.
In the survey, 80 per cent of the respondents expressed their concern regarding the increase in the tuition fees, transport fees, development fees and activity fees. It further reveals that many parents are slashing their expenditure on vacations, home renovation and various other expenditure.
While the cost of private education has always been prohibitive, education in government-run institutions has also increased sharply.