27% of students take private coaching, says survey

Nearly one in three school-going children in India rely on private coaching, with the trend far more pronounced in cities, according to the Centre’s Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) on Education 2025. The findings highlight the growing financial weight of education on households, especially where private schooling is concerned.

The survey underlines a stark economic divide between government and private schooling. While government schools still account for 55.9% of overall enrolment, their share rises to 66% in rural India but drops sharply to 30.1% in urban areas. Even though the majority of students continue to be enrolled in government schools, the financial dynamics are very different. Only 26.7% of government school students reported paying course fees, compared with an overwhelming 95.7% of those in private institutions.

The gap in household spending per student is even more striking: families spend an average of Rs 2,863 annually in government schools, while private schooling costs an average of Rs 25,002 per child, nearly 8.8 times higher.

Across school types, course fees emerged as the single largest expenditure, averaging Rs 7,111 per student nationwide. Urban families, however, shoulder a much heavier load: Rs 15,143 on course fees compared to Rs 3,979 in rural areas. The next largest expenses were textbooks and stationery (Rs 2,002 on average).

Private coaching has become an entrenched feature of Indian education. The survey revealed that 27% of students received private coaching during the year, 30.7% in urban areas versus 25.5% in rural regions.

The cost differential is also significant. Urban households spend an average of Rs 3,988 per student on coaching, more than double the Rs 1,793 in rural areas. At the higher secondary level, the gulf widens dramatically, Rs 9,950 in cities compared to Rs 4,548 in rural districts. For 95% of students, household members were the primary source of educational spending. Government scholarships accounted for only 1.2% as the first major source of funding, underscoring the minimal role of external support in meeting costs.