K S Narayanan/ENS

New Delhi, Jun 30: Is the rising cost of schooling forcing young couples to be content with a single child? Yes, says a survey of industry chamber-Assocham.

A random survey, conducted under the aegis of the Social Development Foundation of Assocham on “Rising School Expenses vis-a-vis Dilemma Of Young Parents,” points out that the ever increasing school expenses in most of the privately managed schools in large cities, including metros, have deterred even well to do young parents from going in for a second child.

These parents, according to the survey, think they are better positioned to afford schooling of a single ward as education expenses have grown disproportionately as against their annual income in the last 7-8 years.

School expenses, excluding tuition fees, have risen from Rs 25,000 in 2000 to Rs 65,000 per annum in 2008 and that too, on a single child. But the annual income, on an average, of well off parents has not risen by more than 28 per cent to 30 per cent during the same period.

Nearly 2,000 working parents were interviewed in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Dehradun, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh etc by the Assocham research team during April-May 2008. Nine out of 10 parents found it very difficult to meet their ward’s school expenditure.

Nearly one in 10 respondents indicated that the cost associated with schooling has actually affected even their choice of school.

About 65 per cent of parents spend more than half their take-home pay on their children’s education, placing significant burden on the family budget.

More than half of metropolitan parents, who send their children to private schools, say the cost of education is a strain on families.

Parents complain that education is now being run like a commercial business enterprise. The high tuition fees doesn’t justify the services offered at schools and the erratic fee hike effected each year by managements, they say.

The average tuition fees in a private school is 35,000 per year. On an average, parents spend an additional Rs 30,000-35,000 per year on uniforms, extra curricular activities, text books, stationery, school fund, trips etc.

An estimated 30 million children are now educated in private schools with fees usually rising well above inflation. Even private prep schools charge about Rs 25,000 per term for students aged between 3 and 5.