(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-28 07:24

LONDON -- Private school fees in Britain will rise by over 5 percent, or more than double the rate of inflation, this fall, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

A survey of 50 schools by Sunday Telegraph indicates that the average rise in private school fees will be 5.6 percent, while fees at one-fourth of these schools will rise by at least 7.5 percent.

Many parents will have to pay an extra 1,000 pounds (1,986 U.S.dollars) for each child's education this year, according to the survey.

Parents with children at Garden House, a junior school in west London, will have to pay 15,552 pounds (30,792 dollars), or 1,150 pounds (2,277 dollars) more than in September 2007 for a school year.

The number of families receiving assistance toward the cost of fees was a record high in 2007 and is expected to rise again this year, as the fee hike comes along with rising household bills, fuel prices and mortgage costs in the wake of credit crunch, said the report.

The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, which represents leading schools, cited fee rises as driven by unavoidable costs such as teachers' salaries and pensions.

But previous fee rises have had no negative effect on private school pupil numbers, which have been growing for more than a decade in Britain.