Delhi govt releases draft school fee bill; to be tabled in Assembly

The draft bill, which was approved by the Delhi Cabinet in April this year, covers all the 1,677 private unaided schools in the city.

The upcoming monsoon session of the Delhi assembly set to begin on Monday will see the tabling of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill 2025, chief minister Rekha Gupta announced on Saturday, in what will be a significant development amid recent allegations and protests against arbitrary fee hike by city schools.

CM Rekha Gupta (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

The draft bill, which was approved by the Delhi Cabinet in April, covers all the 1,677 private unaided schools in the city, and plans to introduce three major reforms in the fee regulation regime — rightful determination of fees, stiff penalties for non-compliance, and a fee regulation structure that also see participation of parents. On Friday, the draft bill was uploaded on the website of the Delhi government.

The proposed reforms come a few months after widespread protests by parents who alleged arbitrary and excessive fee hikes by private schools. Following these demonstrations, the Directorate of Education on April 16 launched action against several unaided schools, initiating proceedings for de-recognition and possible government takeover.On April 29, the Rekha Gupta-led Cabinet passed Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance.

“...(the bill) will be a decisive step towards making Delhi’s education system more robust and inclusive,” Gupta said on X.

The draft bill lays down parameters to be taken into account by schools while determining fees under Section 8. These include the location of the school, its infrastructure, facilities provided, education standards, expenditure on administration and maintenance, etc.

Section 12 introduces stiff penalties for non-compliance of regulations. Schools found violating provisions—such as raising fees without approval—can be fined between ₹1 lakh and ₹10 lakh. The schools found to be charging unauthorised fees must immediately refund the excess amount in 20 days, it says. Repeat offenders could lose government recognition altogether.

Further the bill proposes a three-tier fee regulation structure involving committees at the school, district, and state levels, which will institutionalise parental participation in the process. Education minister Ashish Sood termed the draft as “the most democratic bill” as he said all stakeholders are included to unanimously decide about the fee structure.

Jyoti Arora, principal, Mount Abu Public School, Rohini said, “We sincerely hope the bill reflects the spirit of mutual welfare—for both parents and private unaided schools,” she said.

Divya Mattey, whose child studies at DPS, Dwarka, raised concerns over a part of the draft bill that mentions that an “aggrieved parents group” can file a formal complaint against a school. The group is defined as one that must include at least 15% of the total parents of the affected class or school. “This needs to be rectified,” said Mattey. Activist Ashok Agrawal said the bill in its present form does not serve the purpose. “Who will bear the ultimate burden of fines imposed on schools?”

Meanwhile, the AAP’s Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned how the draft bill would regulate already implemented fee hikes by schools this year. He too raised doubts over the “aggrieved parents group”. He demanded that the audit reports of financial records of all private schools be made public.

Sood attacked the AAP, saying that “those who claimed to be the leaders of the education revolution did not do much during their tenure.”