Private education in India has become a financial trap, not a privilege, warns educator and chartered accountant Meenal Goel, who says the middle class is quietly crumbling under soaring school fees.
Goel’s LinkedIn post and video strip the sheen off private schooling. She dissects the fee structure: ₹35,000 in admission charges, ₹1.4 lakh in tuition, ₹38,000 in annual charges, ₹44,000–₹73,000 for transport, and ₹20,000–₹30,000 for books and uniforms. That’s ₹2.5–₹3.5 lakh a year — per child.
“Mid-tier schools start at ₹1 lakh. Elite schools easily top ₹4 lakh,” she said.
A parent in Hyderabad reportedly paid ₹6,903 just for fifth-grade textbooks, from a school-mandated vendor, no discounts allowed.
India’s average annual income? ₹4.4 lakh. “We talk about healthcare inflation, but education inflation is the silent middle-class killer,” Goel wrote. Fintech firms now offer EMIs for school fees — positioning education alongside home loans.
But public schools aren’t an alternative, she argues. “There are 8 lakh vacant teacher positions. In UP alone, 5,000 schools have just one teacher.” A Delhi government survey found 70% of sixth graders in state schools can’t read a paragraph.
Facilities are grim: 1 lakh schools without electricity, 46,000 without toilets, 39,000 without drinking water. India spends just 4.6% of GDP on education — well below the recommended 6%.
Meanwhile, private schools, legally required to operate as non-profits, find loopholes. Owners lease assets to their own schools through shell companies, charging inflated rents — and passing the bill to parents. “They avoid taxes and still make crores,” Goel explained.
Teachers, the core of any school, remain underpaid. “Private school teachers earn 40–50% less than their government counterparts,” she said. Yet parents are charged for “quality” — including swimming pool fees, annual day charges, and even AC usage.
And the pressure isn’t just financial. Goel highlighted cases where students were publicly humiliated for unpaid dues — denied food, isolated, and guarded by bouncers.
