Families in New Delhi are struggling to keep up with what they call "unsustainable" fee increases by private schools, forcing some to protest the current situation.
They argue that the fee raises are stretching household budgets to the brink and are taking a toll on their children. One teenager, Aaditya Mattey, woke up on May 9 with confidence that he would be able to do well on his English exam.
New Delhi Private Schools
Then, the 14-year-old's father dropped him off at his school in the Indian capital, New Delhi, but he was not even able to write his exam. Aaditya remembered what happened that day, saying that a few minutes before he entered the class, guards and bouncers asked him to leave the room.
The boy's father was still standing outside the school gates when his son and several other students were asked to hop on the school bus, which dropped them off at their respective homes, according to BBC.
The 14-year-old's name was then removed from Delhi Public School Dwarka's rolls after his father did not pay a recent fee increase, which he argued was arbitrary and unauthorized. The case of Aaditya being refused to take his exam was not an isolated instance, and his school is not the only institution accused of making arbitrary fee increases.
Read more: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Law Requiring Public Schools To Ban Cellphones During School Hours
In the last two months, there have been many protests that erupted across several Indian cities, including Pune and Hyderabad. They come as there is a growing number of parents who are accusing private schools of imposing sharp fee increases.
Many parents of school children are now demanding that the Delhi government make public the draft of the Transparency in Fee Fixation and Regulation Ordinance, 2025. This was organized by United Parents Voice, whose protest aligns with many families' growing concerns regarding the ordinance's impact, India Today reported.
Addressing the Issue
Hitesh Kaushik, a member of the group, said they believe the bill can directly impact many families, which makes it important to talk about it with all stakeholders. Education Minister Ashish Sood said that the previous administration made no efforts to prevent fee hikes in private schools.
He added that the bill proposes the creation of three-tier committees at the school, district, and state levels. Sood added that this will allow for more transparency and structure to the process of determining school fees while also protecting parents from unregulated price increases.
The entirety of the process will be time-bound, which means that parents will not be left in limbo. It also ensures that any proposal for fee hikes by the private school management will have to be examined by committees at the school, district, and state levels, as per the Times of India.
