Fee Fighters Unite: Parents Rally Delhi CM for Transparent School Charges

Parents from all over Delhi met Education Minister, Ashish Sood and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday, demanding further dialogue and clarification on the proposed Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025. The meet follows long-standing demands for rationalizing arbitrary fee increases by private schools, as the new bill seeks to bring transparency, accountability, and parental involvement in fixing fees.

 

Key Points

 

Background: The Fee Hike Controversy

Parents have protested for months against unchecked fee increases in Delhi’s 1,677 private unaided schools.

 

Previous governments lacked effective mechanisms to regulate or check arbitrary fee hikes, leading to widespread parental anxiety and legal battles.

 

The New Bill: Major Reforms Proposed

The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, was recently cleared by the Cabinet and awaits assembly approval.

 

The bill establishes a three-tier fee regulatory system:

 

School-Level Committee: Comprises parents, teachers, and school administration, giving direct decision-making power to parents.

 

District and State Committees: Deal with appeals and guarantee equality in the process.

 

Severe penalties for non-adherence:

 

Schools that increase fees without permission will face a fine of ₹1 lakh to ₹10 lakh.

 

Repeated offenders can lose government recognition.

 

Bars coercive measures against students like withholding results or striking out names from rolls due to unpaid fees.

 

Parents' Meeting with the Chief Minister

Parents received the bill as a "historic and decisive step," but asked for more consultations to have their concerns entirely met.

 

Chief Minister Gupta reassured parents that any fee harassment can be lodged directly with her office or with the education minister.

 

Gupta admitted it would take some time to implement but promised better government school options in the coming years.

 

Education Minister Sood stressed that the bill remedies a supply-demand mismatch and historical government school quality neglect.

 

Stakeholder Responses

Parents and school principals generally welcomed the bill for introducing much-needed transparency and accountability.

 

The inclusion of parents, particularly women and reserved category people, in the fee regulation committees was welcomed as a major reform.

 

Some critics objected to the bill's timing and scope, but parent groups declared it a "lifeline" for families who are being strapped by increasing school expenses.

 

Government's Wider Education Plans

The government is also opening 65 new CM Shri Schools with quality infrastructure, with a view to providing credible alternatives to private schools and easing pressure on parents.

 

The Directorate of Education is investigating schools that have been charged with illegal fee increases, with the potential actions being de-recognition and takeover by management.

 

Sources: Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express, Millennium Post