SRINAGAR: Residents of Pampore and adjoining areas in Pulwam district say they have been left disappointed by the exorbitant fee structure of a newly opened private school in the area.
A delegation of parents from Pampore told Kashmir Reader that they were delighted to hear that ‘Birla Open Minds International School’ had come up in the area hoping their children won’t have to travel far off for quality education.
However, the parents said,soon they were disappointed as the school had fixed an “exorbitant” fee structure.
“The tuition fee alone for KG classes is around Rs 5000 and they are charging Rs 12,000 annually in printing charges alone,” a parent said.
Although the school had announced free admissions for its inaugural session, a parent alleged that the fee structure devised by the school was way higher compared to leading private schools in the valley.
“Not to talk of poor families, even the government employees from the area will think twice before enrolling their wards in the school”.
The aggrieved parents alleged that the school had been “specially set up for the elites with no regard for the middle and lower middle class”.
Another parent said that the exorbitant tuition fee fixed by the school in its very first academic session was “unjustified” and had not been approved by the government.
“We were looking forward to the school hoping it would provide quality education to our children, but I believe that there is no room for our children at the school,” a parent said.
Principal Birla Open Minds School could not be contacted for comments.
Officials at the school, when contacted, refused to comment over the matter.
Parents in Kashmir have been regularly complaining about the “exorbitant” fee charged by private schools under different heads.
Although the government had constituted a Fee Fixation Committee to regulate fee structure of private schools, parents say that it was not doing much to rein in the school management from “profiteering”.

Reader correspondent