Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Public School (HPS), Ramanthapur, on Tuesday, April 21, pushed back against protests over its revised fee structure for the academic year 2026–27, calling claims of a 140 per cent fee hike “based on selective computation and misleading.”
The school issued a formal appeal to parents days after a group of them staged a sit-in protest outside the school premises on April 17, raising slogans of “We want justice” and demanding an immediate fee rollback and the formation of a parents’ committee.
Protesting parents alleged that fees for primary classes (Classes 2 to 5) had risen from Rs 84,000 to Rs 2,01,600, and for Classes 6 to 10, from Rs 1,02,000 to Rs 2,08,000 over the past four years – amounting to hikes of 140 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively.
In a video that circulated on social media, parents were seen staging a dharna outside the school. One protester told the media, “Today we held a protest at the Hyderabad Public School, but the Principal did not even bother to ask what our demands are.” Some parents also alleged that security guards were sent to disperse the protesters.
“The fee should be Rs 1 lakh ideally, but the school is charging Rs 2,50,000,” one parent said.
Venkat Sainath, General Secretary of the Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA), said the school had not constituted a parents’ committee and had been levying high fees in the absence of government regulation. HSPA volunteer Shah Taj Khan alleged that the school had been charging fees beyond tuition, in violation of Government Order 45, which directed schools to collect only tuition fees, and that the increases had been continuous since the pandemic year of 2020–21.
In its appeal dated, school management said it had undertaken a “careful and thoughtful review” of the fee structure and that the protest had “adversely affected the reputation and image” of an institution serving the community for over 50 years.
The revised progressive fee structure, it said, involves no increase for Nursery students, a 6 per cent hike for PP1 to Class 5, 8 per cent for Class 6 and 10 per cent for Classes 7 to 12. The school also said the earlier 25–30 per cent jump between Class 5 and Class 6 had been discontinued.
Principal Dr Narasimha Reddy told reporters that the school charged only tuition fee, which was inclusive of lunch and snacks for students. He said there had been no fee increase for two years following the pandemic, and that the hike in the last year alone was only 6 per cent.
“The parents demanded that there be no fee hike for the next five years. It is an unrealistic demand since the school is run by the Hyderabad Public School Society, which looks after the expenses,” he said, adding that the school receives no government funding.
The school’s appeal also cautioned parents against social media discussions that it said “undermine the management, faculty, or institutional processes,” warning these could “strain the relationship between parents and the school.”
The matter has also attracted regulatory attention, with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issuing a notice to the school over the fee hike.
