A Bengaluru father’s LinkedIn post has reignited a national debate about the relentless rise in school fees, which many middle-class families now see as an emerging affordability crisis.
Ashish Singhal, co-founder of CoinSwitch and Lemonn, shared his shock online after receiving a ₹2.1 lakh fee demand for enrolling his daughter in a regular CBSE school.
“This isn’t an international school,” he wrote. “It’s a standard CBSE curriculum. 30% fee hike—if this isn’t theft, what is?”
His post struck a chord with thousands of parents across India, many of whom echoed his frustration. In Bengaluru, some primary schools now charge more than leading engineering colleges. One commenter pointed out that ₹2 lakh for Class 3 is higher than the cost of an entire undergraduate degree.
Fee hikes of 10–30% annually have become the norm in metros like Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, far outpacing household incomes that have grown just 0.4% a year over the past decade. Official inflation figures claim education costs rise around 4%, but families are feeling a much sharper burden.
Singhal noted that expenses such as tuition, transportation, and books are consuming nearly 20% of middle-class household budgets.
Parents are increasingly forced to take EMIs just to secure nursery admissions. “Forget saving for college,” he warned. “People are borrowing to pay for preschool.”
He urged policymakers and fintech companies to take notice: “This isn’t just inflation—it’s erosion of savings and dreams. These are your users. Help them thrive.”