Parents want private schools’ fee hike to be audited

ISTANBUL

As some private schools exceed the 65 percent ceiling fee increase rate determined by the Education Ministry for the new year or go for exorbitant price increases for additional services such as meals and books, parents demand schools to be audited.

The ministry decided to set the increase as 65 percent “considering the low inflation expectation for 2023,” Minister Mahmut Özer announced last week.

Though private schools have not yet announced their new fees, some parents complain that the prices offered by private schools with early enrolment in December exceed the ceiling increase rate.

Some parents, on the other hand, point out that private schools are trying to “apply an invisible hike by making exorbitant increases” in additional expenses such as food, clothes and books, demanding schools to be audited.

Noting that they received serious complaints from parents about private school fees, Özgür Özkan, the head of Private School Parents Platform, said “chain schools” both dominate the market and disregard the regulations.

Complaints are made about those who sell books to parents at high prices though they can print at low cost as they have a printing house, and those who buy food from their own catering company and sell them at high cost, he said. “The problem is chain schools that have turned this into a business.”

Underlining that there should be a limitation and inspection for additional services, Özkan noted that, as per the regulation, private schools cannot stipulate additional services in the contract.

The parents confused by the fees have started to protest these problems on social media. Some stated that the fees went up to 65,000 liras, while some said the lunch prices were increased by 300 percent and 180 liras were demanded.