Delhi CM Rekha Gupta reacts to private schools' fee hike: ‘No right to harass students, will take action’

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta said notices will be sent to schools with complaints, emphasising that they must adhere to regulations and not harass parents or children.

Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday reacted to the alleged fee hike by some private schools and asserted that the government would take action against such institutions.

CM Rekha Gupta at a high-level review meeting at the Delhi Secretariat. (HT file)

Rekha Gupta also said notices are being sent to the schools against which students' parents have complained about the fees being increased abnormally.

“Parents have been meeting me with their grievances... that is for sure... no school has any right to harass parents and children. They have no right to threaten children and hike fees abnormally. There are rules and regulations (for fee hikes) which must be followed. If any school is found indulging in all these, then they will have to suffer. We will be issuing notices today to all those schools regarding which we have received complaints,” Rekha Gupta told reporters.

Last week, a group of parents of children studying at a private school in Dwarka held a protest outside its premises, opposing a recent fee hike implemented by the institution.

The protesters alleged that their children had been subjected to what they described as a "library arrest" for the past 25 days.

One parent claimed that since March 20, the school management has been confining students inside the library during school hours.

Delhi education minister Ashish Sood addressed the matter and said an inspection team recently visited the school in Dwarka after multiple complaints about frequent fee hikes.

He added that sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) across the city have been instructed to inspect schools and collect responses to an 18-point questionnaire designed to assess compliance.

Sood said a committee has been set up comprising the deputy director of education and the director of accounts.

Additionally, the education department has launched a dedicated email ID for parents to submit complaints about unjustified fee increases.

On Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing the ruling party in the centre of “ruining” education.

Taking a dig at the ruling party over Gujarat model, he said the BJP wanted to keep the entire country "illiterate".

AAP leaders attack Delhi government over fee hikes

Earlier, Kejriwal said that the education system in the national capital has completely “fallen into the clutches” of the mafias under the BJP government following an alleged fee hike in several private schools recently.

Reacting to the protest being held in the schools over the recent fee hike, Arvind Kejriwal, in a post on X, said, "The people of Delhi are once again completely at the mercy of the education mafia. How dare the education mafia mistreat our children? Because the leaders and ministers are in their pockets -- just like they used to be before our government came to power."

AAP leader Manish Sisodia also demanded a CBI probe into the school fee hike issue, in what he referred to as “blatant looting through fee hikes” by private schools in Delhi.

“Private schools in Delhi have now begun raising fees at will. In 2015, when I became the education minister, the first major reform we brought in was to regulate fee hikes in private schools. Several private schools have hiked fees without permission and even shut their doors to students. There has been no increase in teacher salaries or school expenses, so why these hikes?” said Sisodia.

(With inputs from agencies)