In the next year private school managements are looking to hike the school fees for about 40 percent,Which is because of rise in property tax.

As the Parents associations are making a very clear statement that 40 per cent hike was too much which looks like unreasonable and it will set abundant financial stress on parents.

The problem stems from the fact that the go-vernment till date has failed to set up a fee regulatory mechanism for schools. Earlier att-empts to regulate fees in private schools, have also not been fruitful.

The Andhra Pradesh Private Managements Recognised Schools Association said the government had hiked property tax on school buildings by 50 per cent last year and by about 300 per cent this year, financially burdening the schools, especially the smaller ones. About 20,000 schools across the state are part of the association.

APPMRSA expressed concern that about 5,000 small schools, which provide affordable education to lower-middle and poorer sections of society, were on the verge of closure due to steep hikes in property tax, power charges, water cess etc., over last three years.

APPMRSA president S. Sreenivas Reddy said, Corporate and international schools are in a position to bear the additional taxes since they collect huge fees but smaller schools are on the verge of closure due to the hike.

Mr S. Prabhakar Rao, representing a parents association said that 40 per cent hike is too much,An annual payment towards property tax which is making by school oF Rs 50,000 now which they have to pay Rs 1.5 lakh which doesnt make any difference for them,Infact if schools hike the fees upto 10 percent,they can get in lakhs of rupees due to high enrolment in private schools from nursery to class X.

The government is delaying in bringing proper mechanism to organize fee for private schools despite the initiation in 2009 which defines that upto class V schools should not collect more than Rs 24,000 per annum and not more than Rs 30,000 up to Class X.