Government-aided Urdu-medium schools in and around the city have lost scores of students after hiking their annual fees to meet rising establishment costs.

All 30 schools in this category now charge 10 to 15 times more than the recommended fee of Rs 75, putting education out of reach for those like Shamim Ahmed. A watchman’s son, Shamim dropped out of school in Class VIII despite aggregating 60 per cent in his last annual examination. “My father cannot afford the annual fee of Rs 900,” he said.

The schools don’t have a choice, either. The fee structure for government-aided schools was fixed almost three decades ago and has not been reviewed once, let alone revised. “The extra money that we charge is to meet our basic expenditure. The government gives us little; how can a school pay for electricity, telephone and general maintenance by taking just Rs 75 annually from a student?” asked a senior teacher from CMO High School, in Peter Lane.

Parents had held a rally outside the school against the fee hike last year.

Tailor Anisur Rahman, whose three sons are students of Mohammad Jan High School, on Bolai Dutt Street, isn’t sure he can take the load any more.

“We were sending our children to school because education in government schools was affordable. But now that they have hiked the fees, we have to think twice before sending our children to school in the next academic session,” the Ripon Street resident said.

M.K.A. Siddiqui, formerly associated with the Asiatic Society and Anthropological Survey of India, described the trend as “very bad news” for education in the city. “Only eight to 10 per cent of Muslim children in Calcutta go to school and more than 55 per cent work. Education needs to be made affordable for parents and sustainable for schools.”

Senior officials of the higher education department claimed they had not received any complaint yet from any parent. “If someone approaches us, we will look into it,” one of them said.

Many of the schools have hiked fees to hire “temporary” teachers for Rs 2,000-3,000 each a month.