The pursuit of knowledge can be costly. Students enrolled in private or non-governmental schools across India end up paying nearly nine times more in fees when compared to those enrolled in government schools, according to data collected by the Comprehensive Modular Survey: Education, 2025 (April-June). This data, when supplemented with findings of other recent surveys which show that enrolment in government schools has been falling in recent years, paint a worrying picture. On the one hand, there are not enough government schools, especially secondary and higher secondary ones; those that do exist often lack quality infrastructure, trained staff, and accountability. On the other, those desirous of quality private school education are suffering high out-of-pocket expenditure which, incidentally, is the leading cause of school drop-outs, especially for girls. The State’s failures to improve government school education, the reason behind private — profiteering — schools mushrooming, have ultimately led to the undermining of the promise of making education equitable and accessible. The consequences are telling. Children whose families cannot pay high fees thus face widening disadvantages when it comes to learning outcomes, hardening educational divides.
The expenses on education do not end with sending a child to a private school either. The CMS:E also revealed that almost 47% of urban Indian students and 33.1% of their rural peers in Classes XI and XII have to enrol in private coaching classes in order to gain the competitive edge needed to succeed in an economy with high unemployment rates. Households where children are in Classes XI or XII may be spending as much as 9%-12% of their annual consumption expenditure just on private coaching classes. The lack of personal attention from teachers on account of poor teacher-student ratios is one of the factors that force students towards private coaching, leading to the further ballooning of the education bill. Teachers, too, are responsible for pushing students towards private tuitions because it is an opportunity to earn more. There is also a consensus that private coaching offers the best possible shot at clearing recruitment exams. Education’s prohibitive costs may stifle its reach. The challenge, therefore, is to improve infrastructure and learning outcomes in State-funded schools that have a wider reach. This requires a massive political commitment towards financing — subsidising? — education. Unfortunately, this commitment has been found wanting in governments of all political stripes.