Parents will soon have to pay more to give their children an ICSE education following a revision of various charges, including a four-time increase in the Indian School Certificate examination fee for 2009.

The Association of Heads of ICSE Schools has accepted a proposal by the Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations to raise some fees with immediate effect for three years. The Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools, which meets on Wednesday, is expected to do likewise.

This is the first time in 15 years that the fee structure, which is not to be confused with the charges schools levy, has been revised. The council’s executive committee took the decision in Delhi on April 23 and issued a circular to its affiliates, including nearly 120 schools in Calcutta and about 300 across the state.

“The revision had been pending for years. There has been no revision of some of the fees since 1993. An upward revision was necessary because the council plans to upgrade its systems. For instance, it wants to introduce modern techniques to stop marksheet fraud,” the principal of Welland Gouldsmith School, Gilian Rosemary Hart, said. Hart is a member of the executive committee.

Gerry Arathoon, the council’s additional secretary and officiating chief executive, was unavailable for comment.

The hike is applicable not only to students but the institutions they study in, too. Every ICSE school will have to pay an annual registration charge of Rs 10,000, against the old rate of Rs 3,500. For correction of any clerical errors, schools will have to pay Rs 1,000 instead of the Rs 300 charged so far.

Students will have to pay Rs 500 — up from Rs 80 — for a duplicate admit card. The fee for a duplicate statement of marks has been hiked from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. The cost of a pass certificate has gone up from Rs 125 to Rs 500 and the fee for anyone applying for rechecking of answer scripts has been doubled to Rs 800 per paper.

A student who writes the ISC examination next year will have to pay Rs 2,100, up from Rs 555. Migration fees have increased as well.

The schools’ decision to accept the council’s hike has disappointed a section of parents and guardians. With ICSE schools coming up in almost every locality in the city, more and more students from lower middle class families are attending these institutions.

“I don't understand why parents are making an issue out of this. The council has the right to increase fees. If schools increase fees, why can’t the council?” asked Richard Gasper, an official of the St Augustine group of schools.

Animesh Dey, the principal of a non-Anglo-Indian school, too, supported the fee hike. “Schools will now be more cautious before sending any document to the council,” he said, referring to the increase in the fee for correction of errors.