Schools For Scandals: City CBSE schools rake in moolah as loot game begins

Hyderabad: Shockingfacts emerge with only three months to go for school admissions. The schools are welcoming parents to prepare them to look into their savings to feed into the school fee loot in another academic year.

Concern and complications are being expressed about the way elitism and schooling culture breeding in the name of schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Speaking to The Hans India, the principal of a prominent CBSE school in Abids said, "When it comes to the CBSE schools regarding affordability of school education, things are going out of hand. The situation turns bad to worse if parents, educationists and governments fail to address the fault lines in the system. Firstly, many are blaming the school for looting parents in the name of school fee. "Barring a few schools, it is a fact. But what lies at the foundation of creating such an exploitative environment to resort to exploitation and turning it into a lucrative business?" he asked.

For example, as per the CBSE regulations, a school room should have a space of 550 sft in cities. It does not count how many students are to be accommodated in a given school room, at what level and age of students in the class. While the safety aspects of the students are welcome, "a classroom of 350- 400 sft for 30-40 students is sufficient. Otherwise, the teacher has to raise their tone and make students in last rows are heard and attentive to lesson."

Vouching this, another head of a CBSE school in Madhapur said there are also other aspects like "maths lab, physics and biology labs with each of 750 square ft. That apart, there should be a multipurpose hall with a space of 1,000 sft. "The multipurpose hall is like a mini-theater. In conservative estimates, in cities like Hyderabad or even quasi-urban areas, the lowest cost per sft comes to Rs 50. In rental terms, the school has to pay Rs 50,000 a month. If it is own building the investments run into double digits in lakhs for primary level to crores as higher classes come up."

As of now, one can’t start and run a CBSE school in Hyderabad without fixing a bare minimum of collecting Rs 1 lakh as school fee, they pointed out. Besides, the competition with other schools and different kinds of extracurricular activities, sports, and others comes at an extra cost.