Hyderabad: Parents fume over exorbitant fee hikes by HPS Ramanthapur

Parents of Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur, have complained to the Chief Minister over steep fee hikes of up to 141 per cent in four years and the absence of a PTA. They have sought an audit, regulatory oversight and rejection of unethical fee increases.

Hyderabad: Angered by what they termed as ‘unilateral’ decisions, the Hyderabad Public School (HPS) Ramanthapur parents flagged an exorbitant fee hike by the school management in the last four years. The parents also raised serious concerns over the absence of a parent-teacher association (PTA) to take up their issues.

In a letter recently addressed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the Hyderabad Public School Parents Association (HPSPA) said the government rules allow any private unaided school to enhance fees as per the consumer performance index, which ranged between four and six per cent. However, the HPS Ramanthapur ignored this rule and hiked the fee to a maximum of 141 per cent in a span of four years post the Covid-19, it said.

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In an analysis shared with the government, the parents highlighted that PP1 fee went up from Rs 1.10 lakh in 2021-22 to Rs 1,92,027 in 2025-26, a 75 per cent cumulative hike in the last four years. They also highlighted that a parent who admitted their ward to PP1 at a fee of Rs 1.10 lakh in 2021-22 has to shell out a fee of Rs 2.01 lakh for Class III for the academic year 2025-26, which is an 84 per cent net increment.

The school management repeatedly ignored consulting/communicating with or at least notifying the parents regarding major decisions such as fee hikes, the parents alleged.

“After hiking the fee by 15 per cent for the academic year 2025-26, the management reduced the fee nominally by 4 per cent. This has been done after our repeated requests. The management said the fee will be hiked again for the next academic year,” a parent said.

The HPSPA Ramanthapur said, despite repeated pleas for constitution of the PTA, it was never formed. It wanted the Chief Minister to establish an audit and enquiry commission to examine the issues and expedite the formation of PTA. It also wanted the government to reject any unethical fee hikes by the private schools.

Apart from the constitution of a fee regulatory committee, the HPSPA wanted the government to take back land allotted to school and the institution be brought under proper regulatory control to safeguard the future of students.