New Delhi, April 29 In a bold move to rein in private schools, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday approved a draft legislation to regulate fee hikes in schools and take punitive action against institutions which fail to comply with the education department’s order against arbitrary increases.
Calling it a historic decision, CM Gupta told media persons, “The draft bill recommended by the Delhi Cabinet will give the power to the government to also regulate fee hikes in 1,677 private schools.”
She said the legislation will also apply to aided schools and bring respite to parents who often allege harassment at the hands of school authorities.
“The draft 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 said.
Education Minister Ashish Sood told IANS, "Today, our cabinet took a decision regarding fee regulation. The government will now have the power to direct institutions to reduce or hike fees.”
“The Bill empowers the government to take action if the schools don't comply,” he said, hinting that the provisions may come into force from the current academic session.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, CM Gupta said we had 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,” said CM Gupta.
She said the Cabinet decision is important as, till now, the earlier 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 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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