Parents meet Delhi CM, seek furrther discussion on issue of fee hike by private schools
Parents from across Delhi gathered at the Secretariat on Saturday to meet Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Education Minister Ashish Sood over the proposed Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025. The legislation, which seeks to introduce transparency in private school fee hikes, received praise from many in attendance, along with calls for further consultation.
Describing the legislation as a 'decisive and historic step,' Gupta said, 'For 27 years, private schools had been arbitrarily increasing fees without any checks or clear regulations. Previous governments had no concrete legal mechanism to control such practices.'
She told the parents that if any school harasses them over fees, they are welcome to report the matter directly to her office or to the education minister.
Gupta acknowledged that implementing the Bill and its framework would take time. 'There will be a backlog, but there is no doubt that in the coming years, Delhi government schools will be good… this government promises that you (parents) will not have to constantly worry about your children's education,' she told the parents.
Sood said that the problem of fee hikes had persisted due to lack of adequate schooling alternatives. 'The problem of the fee hike has been a supply and demand issue… The previous government neglected the quality of government schools,' he said.
During the interaction, while many parents welcomed the move as a long-awaited reform, others, including parents from schools like DPS Dwarka and Birla Vidya Niketan in Pushpa Vihar, urged the government to involve parent bodies more actively before the Bill is tabled in the Assembly.
Parents of DPS Dwarka students requested changes in parents' representation in school-level committees, timelines for fee approvals and transparent functioning of fee regulation committees, among others.
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