'Even Rs 50-lakh IT couples can't afford': Bengaluru school's Rs 7.35 lakh fees for grade 1 go viral

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Financial planner D Muthukrishnan on Sunday flagged the steep fee structure of a Bengaluru school, calling it unaffordable even for well-paid professionals.

"It's a free market. Pricing is upto individuals. It's customer choice to pick what they want. All is right in this theory, like most of the theories," he wrote on X.

The school's fee schedule for 2025-26 shows annual education fees of ₹7.35 lakh for grades 1 to 5, ₹7.75 lakh for grades 6 to 8, ₹8.5 lakh for grades 9 and 10, and ₹11 lakh for grades 11 and 12. A one-time admission fee of ₹1 lakh is charged separately.

Sharing the document on X, Muthukrishnan said, “This is unaffordable even for an IT couple earning a combined pretax income of Rs.50 lakhs per annum and having two school going children.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“India is a land of extremities,” he added.

Rajendra Koushik, an advocate, however, suggested that people themselves were responsible for such a high fee. "Who asked for it, it's the same public asked for it. The ghost that if our children study in private schools will get 1 crore salary!!" he wrote. "This greediness of man itself killing him."

"Of course if IT people get 50 thousand salary, why not staff and teachers. But in reality, most of the money  goes to management, that is different aspects. I suggest one thing, let all the people stop admission and send their children to government school for 2 years, automatically private school will become haunted houses. Public itself is corrupt," Koushik wrote on X.

Another person said that free market logic makes sense on paper, but when essential services like education become out of reach even for well-earning families, it shows the need for better balance. "Policies should ensure access stays fair so good education does not end up as a luxury only some can afford."

"Why cant Govt intervene, Rs 1000 for online application fee is obnoxious and attracts anti monopoly pricing legislation," Boregowda Shivaraj, retired professor of management, asked. "Free market is not without regulation when it comes to fee of schools and colleges."  

In another recent post, Muthukrishnan linked rising education costs to broader structural changes. “We saw earlier how foreign private equity is now owning lot of top private hospitals in India. The trend is spreading to schools too,” he noted. He pointed out, “The New Education Policy (NEP) has relaxed the rule of foreign investments in India’s education sector. Foreign investors are allowed full ownership of even universities.

The NEP 2020, approved by the Union Cabinet to replace the 34-year-old education policy, suggests big changes in schools and colleges. It focuses on broad and flexible learning, lets students choose different subjects, and allows them to enter or leave courses at different stages with the help of a credit system. It also plans one main body—the Higher Education Council of India (HECI)—to regulate higher education, including teacher training.

To meet the growing demand for quality education, the policy also aimed to open the sector further to private investments. NEP 2020 had set a target to increase public spending on education.