HYDERABAD: Not just the hike in school fees, parents will also have to bear additional expenditure on school transport from the coming academic year as several managements have decided to increase the charges by 25-30% due to steep rise in diesel prices.
Managements said that the increase in transportation charges was inevitable as apart from high fuel prices even the cost of buses, salaries of drivers and attenders, maintenance and taxes have all gone up considerably.
“Providing transportation at the current charges would be a loss to institutions,” said Simi Nagi, principal, Pallavi Model School, Alwal, which runs buses on 20 routes.
She said that while the school used to collect between Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 for 10 months per student, they have now started collecting Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per month.
“From June, we might have to shift to slab system again and the hike would be a minimum of 25% on the existing rate,” she added.
Schools pointed out that they are helpless as they have had to pay taxes along with salaries even when buses were not running.
“Even when we did not use our buses, the state collected taxes and even imposed penalties. As buses were not used in the last two years, most are not in good condition and schools might have to buy new ones,” said S Madhusudhan Reddy, correspondent, Pragathi Vidyaniketan High School, Amberpet. He added that many schools are also planning not to offer transportation as it was not feasible anymore.
“If fuel prices don’t fall by June, we would have no option but to increase transportation charges,” said Sujith Rao Y, correspondent, Academic Heights Public School, Kothapalli, Karimnagar.
He said that the school runs 14 buses and is currently charging about Rs 14,000 for six months. “We might have to increase the fee by another Rs 4,000-6,000 per student,” he added. Vans and autos are also likely to follow suit, with many already informing parents about the enhanced rates.
