In a media statement on Tuesday, T Lokesh, president of the Karnataka Registered Unaided Private Schools Association said that schools are looking at increasing their fee as the cost of living has gone up significantly in Karnataka.

“School managements have received representations from teachers seeking a hike in their salaries. The cost of living has gone up highly in the state. They are unable to make ends meet. They sought that school managements increase the fee by 20%. However, the Karnataka Education Policy and the Right to Education Act only allow an annual fee hike of up to 15%. Hence, we will be hiking the fee in accordance to that,” said Lokesh.

Lokesh also justified that with the ongoing war of Israel and US against Iran, the prices of commodities are bound to rise. “It is foreseen that the cost of crude oil will rise again. This in-turn means cost of other commodities will rise. A fee hike is the only way to sustain this inflation,” he said.

In Karnataka, there isn’t currently a specific statutory cap on private school fee hikes like in some other states (e.g., Tamil Nadu or Delhi). As a result, schools largely have autonomy to fix and increase their fees, and the state’s District Education Regulatory Authority mechanism is not functionally effective for fee capping. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 applies nationally and obliges free and compulsory education up to age 14 but does not directly cap fee hikes apart from ensuring that no charges prevent basic elementary education.

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