'Education has been commoditised in India,' says finfluencer Akshat Shrivastava; internet agrees

Finfluencer Akshat Shrivastava on Thursday said that the school education in India "has been deeply corrupted now in the name of ed-tech revolution".

He posted a lengthy tweet after receiving a spam SMS about pre-approved loan of up to Rs 3.8 lakh for kid's school fees.

Shrivastava expressed his concern over the rate at which the education is being commoditised in India. "One of the biggest accelerants of this commoditisation has been the Big EdTech firms. They hire Bollywood stars, International Foot-ballers, and send influencers to watch cricket/football matches and, all this cost is eventually passed onto you-- for using glorified tablets,” he added.

He said that considering an IT fresher's median annual salary in 2022 being Rs 3.5 lakh, that person will definitely have to take a loan 5-7 years down the line when they want to educate their kids.

According to Shrivastava, one of the prime reason why people work hard is to give their kids better education. In most cases, sending kids to better schools is the most common way of doing this. "The rate at which education has been commoditised in India is mind boggling," he said.

For decades, people have been selling their land to prepare for UPSC, wrote Shrivastava. IIM-A’s fee used to be Rs 7 lakh in 2007 and now close to 37 lakhs and school education will be next, he said.

He added a disclaimer, "If you think these EdTech firms have no role to play in shaping school fee, check their partnerships with top schools."

Shrivastava found support from most Twitter users and they concurred with his views.

"School fees are skyrocketing, putting quality education out of reach for many. EdTech firms are exacerbating the problem by spending lavishly on marketing," said one Twitter user.

"This is the harsh reality, Bengaluru/Mumbai/Delhi - school fees are skyrocketing. Should there a cap on the school fees? After all education is one of the fundamentals our country is build upon this era," quipped another Twitter user.

However, one Twitter user disagreed with Shrivastava, "Establishing school has become a challenging task, especially when real estate prices are soaring. We want a school to be in our neighborhood but not ok with their school fee. Why should anyone operate a school without profit."

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