‘Is it worth it?’: Bengaluru parent flags ₹1.85 lakh pre-nursery fee, sparks debate on soaring education costs

A REDDIT post by a Bengaluru parent has reignited debate over the skyrocketing cost of education in India. The user claimed that a pre-nursery admission estimate shared by a school pegged the annual expense for a toddler at around ₹1.85 lakh.

According to the post, the breakdown included a ₹5,000 registration fee, ₹28,240 for consumables (payable in two instalments), ₹91,200 for June to November, and another ₹60,800 for the rest of the year.

“Is this reasonable for a toddler to be charged for pre-school in Bangalore? What are your thoughts, and what would be a reasonable cost?” the user asked on the r/bangalore subreddit, also questioning whether such high fees were justified.

The post quickly went viral, drawing over 1,500 upvotes and hundreds of comments. While some users argued that top-tier schools had always been expensive, many others criticised the lack of regulation, calling such charges “predatory” and unaffordable for middle-class families.

“There should be a limit. If you can’t cap that, it is inefficient governance. One lakh should be the maximum price cap, and anything beyond shouldn’t be allowed,” the original poster (OP) added.

Mint could not independently verify the claims made in the Reddit post.

Internet reacts

Reacting to the viral post, a user commented, “My sister paid like 4-5L for my niece so I think this is justified i guess but tbh education is becoming unaffordable in Bangalore.”

Another user wrote, “Pricing were right when education was a fundamental right, now it has emerged as a commodity, like any other commodity, education also has a range of pricing? Choose your fit.”

The third user wrote, “WHAT!!! 1.85L as total tution fee!! My parents paid 1.73L as my tution fee in college for 1 year + the hostel fee of 60k + misc = 2.5L per year I graduated in 2021 from VIT Vellore. Here you are paying 1.85L for an year. They better be teaching some engineering here.”