New Delhi: The Delhi cabinet led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has approved an ordinance to regulate fees charged by schools, Education Minister Ashish Sood announced on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, Sood said that in the eighth cabinet meeting, the BJP government approved the ordinance based on the proposed Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025.
"The ordinance will be sent for presidential assent through the Lt Governor. This is a day of happiness for parents whose children study in private schools. It will take the form of a law," Sood said.
Sood said that now the bill will be sent to the Lt Governor and then to the President and it will become a law. It will prove to be very beneficial for the parents. Now no private school will be able to increase the fees arbitrarily, any school that violates this rule will have to pay a penalty, he said. After this bill becomes a law, it will come into force from April 1, 2025.
The matter of an arbitrary fee hike came to the fore when several students in Delhi Public School (DPS) Dwarka were disenrolled when they failed to pay the hiked school fee, and the court intervened. The government also sent a committee that investigated the matter, following which show-cause notices were served to the schools.
Earlier, Gupta announced that such fee hikes and harassment of parents and students will not be tolerated. Keeping this in mind, the government planned to introduce this ordinance to curb arbitrary fee hikes.
The Rekha Gupta government aims to provide quality and modern education to every child in the state. The issue of arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in Delhi has been a longstanding concern, with the Delhi government taking various measures over the years to address it. (With agency inputs)
