Ahmedabad parents spend over 50% on children`s education: Study

With the school expense excluding tuition fees rising from Rs 35,000 to Rs 65,000 per annum in 2011, about 65 per cent of parents in Ahmedabad spend more than half their take-home pay on their children's education, says a study by the Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The random survey done under aegis of ASSOCHAM on 'Parents wary of rising education cost of kids' of young parents for their children education, the report states in 2011, parents will spend over Rs 94,000 on a single child at primary/secondary education level.

"The expenses are on such items and activities as integral to the school curriculum, such as fees, transport books, uniform, stationery, building fund, educational trips, extra tuition and extracurricular activities," reveals an ASSOCHAM assessment.

The survey highlights that the rising cost of education, has become a major cause of worry for parents. Majority of Parents nearly spend on average more than Rs 18–20 lakh in raising a child by the time their teen graduates from high school.

In a random survey, nearly 2,000 working parents were interviewed in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Dehradun, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and Chandigarh by the ASSOCHAM research team in months of Jan-March 2011.

"The survey showed that parents invest an average 40 per cent of their income in their children's education. In Ahmedabad, 65 per cent parents spend more than half their take-home pay on their children's education, extra co-curricular activities placing significant burden on their family budget. The cost of education is increasing every year, parallel to the inflation," said DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM.

Also, 56 per cent of the parents of Ahmedabad said that they are interested in their children futures; complain that they are forced to make their children quit extra-curricular activities such as dancing, music or art lessons, sports or foreign language tutoring due to cost factor and time constraint, the survey states.