Education Bill On School Fees To Be Discussed In Assembly Session From Aug 4: Delhi CM

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday that the Education bill aimed at regulating school fees in private schools across the national capital will be tabled for discussion in the Assembly during the next session from August 4.

The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill is the BJP government's bold move to rein in private schools which fail to comply with the education department's order against arbitrary increases.

"The education Bill will be brought in the Assembly for detailed discussion," CM Gupta told reporters at the Secretariat ahead of the Assembly session to be held from August 4 to 8.

The draft legislation to regulate fee hikes in schools and take punitive action against institutions was approved by the State Cabinet in April this year.

This was followed by the Delhi government approving the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025.

It promises major relief to lakhs of students studying in 1,677 private schools and their parents in the city.

Earlier, CM Gupta said the legislation will apply to aided schools and bring respite to parents who often allege harassment at the hands of school authorities.

"The Bill lays down the entire procedure and guidelines for fee fixation and specifies roles of various stakeholders, including school managements, the education directorate and parents," she added.

Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood earlier told IANS, "The government will now have the power to direct institutions to reduce or hike fees."

"The Bill empowers the state government to take action if the schools don't comply," he said, hinting that the provisions may come into force in the current academic session.

As a groundwork for drafting the legislation, CM Gupta said sent district magistrates to interact with parents, who were alleging harassment by school managements.

"The District Magistrates filed their reports, after speaking to parents and conducting an audit, on what is the procedure being followed to raise fees," she added.

She said that the legislation is a significant step in the direction of policy reform as, till now, the previous governments did not put in any effort to create a legal provision allowing the Delhi government to issue instructions against fee hikes in private schools.

"The draft legislation looks to remove ambiguity," she said, adding that the only mention of fees in the Delhi School Act, 1973, is in Section 17 (3), and even that does not give the state government the authority to determine the fee that an institution should charge.

The Act's Section 17(3) leaves the decision on fixing the fee to the school manager and only talks about curbs on the collection of additional charges under any other heads.

The Section 17(3) says, "The manager of every recognised school shall, before the commencement of each academic session, file with the Director a full statement of the fees to be levied by such school during the ensuing academic session, and except with the prior approval of the Director, no such school shall charge, during that academic session, any fee in excess of the fee specified by its manager in the said statement."

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