Delhi govt's school fee hike Bill looks out for middle class that helped BJP return to power in Capital

Indian Express

30-04-2025

Months of protests by parents and run-ins with the AAP over the issue, the BJP government in Delhi went where no government in the city has gone before – devising a potential law to curb unwarranted fee hikes and charges by private schools, a first for the Capital.
The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation & Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced on Tuesday, will apply to all private schools in the city and ensure 'transparent, strict and clear provisions regarding school fee determination'.
It provides for a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for violation, which will double or triple in case more such instances are reported.
Following the big-ticket announcement of implementing Mahila Samridhi Yojana in Delhi – the BJP government's most significant poll promise directly impacting the poor – the new policy aimed to rein in private schools will directly impact the middle and lower middle class.
These sections bore the brunt of 'unfair' fee hikes head-on, bringing parents to the streets and propelling the matter into court.
A BJP government returning to power in the Capital after 27 years — 10 of which saw the AAP at the helm — has been largely attributed to the support the party had received from these two sections.
Both the campaign for the February Delhi elections, which saw promises such as no tax liability for income up to Rs 7.5 lakh and a continuity in power and water subsidies, among others, being made to middle class voters – who account for over 67% of Delhi's population as per a 2022 report of People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) – and the poll results, underline the significance of the middle class in sending the BJP to the Vidhan Sabha.
The issue of fee hikes is a contentious one, with the Delhi government and private schools going head to head in courts several times. In the most recent instance, the Delhi High Court had last year issued an interim stay on a government order that told school that they could not hike fees without its permission.
It was this seeming free hand, combined with the fact that some schools had brought in significant hikes since Covid-19 pandemic, that led schools to come up with revised fee structures, sources said. It is also an issue that the AAP made the centre of its politics in 2017-18.
After complaints from parents of children studying in private schools and allegations that then AAP government only made policies for the poor, the government pursued cases against private schools for 'unjust fee hikes' as per the provisions under the Delhi School Education Act, 1973.
Eventually, under court orders, more than 450 private schools were forced to refund fees for sessions 2009-10 and 2010-11, including DPS, Amity International, Sanskriti, Modern School, and Springdales.
With fee hikes of up to 40% being implemented in some schools this year, and because of sustained pressure from the middle class, the BJP seemingly took up the issue on priority.
Sources in the Education department said the first time that they were told to start studying similar laws in other states was in mid-March, as parents' protests intensified.
The decision to come up with the draft Bill was solidified after the HC pulled up Delhi Public School, Dwarka, for forcing children of those parents who were opposing the fee hike and had refused to pay to sit in the library instead of joining their peers in in classes.
Asked why the BJP government had thrown its weight behind the Bill seemingly suddenly, Education Minister Ashish Sood told The Indian Express that a Bill to resolve the issue had been on the government's agenda since the beginning it assumed office.
'The education sector is a key priority area for us. We began researching and chalking out the way to implement the policy within days of our government's formation,' Sood said, adding that similar policies were in place in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
He added that the Delhi government had, through this policy, exhibited political will to ensure that both parents and their children were not 'subjected to extortion' in the name of fees and other charges by schools' managing bodies.
'We are very clear about this. We will not allow parents and children to be exploited in the name of one charge or the other. Gundagardi nahin chalne denge. Sab ke liye ek paardarshi vyavastha sunishchit karenge (We will not let hooliganism like this slide. We will ensure a transparent system for everyone),' he added.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Atishi, who served as the Education minister in the previous AAP government, however, termed the policy 'an eyewash'.
'The government has on the one hand not even a shared a copy of the policy in the public domain nor is it willing to answer what happens to the current fees and charges, which have already been hiked by schools,' she said.
In a letter to the CM over the issue on Wednesday, she stated, 'You will appreciate that this draft Bill was necessitated due to sudden spurt in the unregulated and arbitrary fee hike by many private schools immediately after the formation of BJP government in Delhi. This unprecedented situation put thousands of children and their parents in extremely distressing situation.'
'What will happen to all the parents who are facing these problems in the current academic year, 2025-26? An order should be issued stopping all fee hike and new charges introduced by private schools for the current academic year,' she demanded, in addition to making the draft Bill available in the public domain for feedback.