Loads of books for children, financial burden for parents

Visakhapatnam: Of all the months, parents dread to sail through June as their expenses multiply manifold. Despite the classes their wards get admitted into, most of the middle class families seek financial support or apply for loans to meet the education expenses of their children that continue to pile up.

As the institutions are set to reopen this year from June 13, parents get busy stocking up the shelves with fresh pairs of uniforms, new set of academic books, a pair of shoes along with a host of school accessories. A dedicated budget has to be set aside for the wards studying in corporate schools as their study material alone would cost anywhere between Rs.5,000 to Rs.12,000 depending on the institution’s brand value and the class the student is into.

Besides investing in the study material, investment also has to be made in textbooks. Apparently, a majority of institutions demand the first term fee payment as soon as the institutions get reopened.

As a large chunk of the salary goes to meeting academic expenses, parents cough up Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh per child for the month. But for those belonging to middle class and lower middle class families, the school reopening month becomes more burdensome as their monthly income barely matches up with their mounting expenses.

Concerned over their wards’ future and stretching beyond their capabilities, a majority of people admitted their children into corporate and private schools.

A large section of employees working in private companies fall into a monthly salary bracket of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. “This month, my expenses go five times higher than my income. The salary earned gets exhausted as soon as it gets credited into my account. With no other choice left and no savings so far, I have to borrow from my friends to pay the term fee for my children studying in a private school,” laments Bandi Srinivasa Rao, who works in a retail store.

With each passing academic year, the term fee swells in private institutions. Whether the teacher gets an annual increment or not, the school fee is certain to increase.

While some of the parents approach private money lenders, a section of people depend on banks to mobilise loans to meet academic expenses that continue to grow beyond the budget.