All private and unaided schools in the capital will now need prior government approval before raising tuition fees, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood announced on Thursday.
Until now, the regulation
applied only to around 350 schools built on government-allotted land. With the introduction of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, the rule will extend to all 1,443 private schools across the city, including those operating on private land.
Calling the legislation “a major step towards ending arbitrary fee hikes,” Sood said, “This bill is not just a formality. It is a promise to parents that fee structures will no longer be manipulated at will.”
According to the government, the new law addresses gaps in the existing Delhi School Education Act and Rules, 1973, which left many schools outside the purview of fee regulation. Officials said previous directives, including a 2022 order invalidating proposed hikes for 2020–21 and 2021–22, were often ignored or challenged in court.
The DoE noted that after the COVID-19 pandemic, 227 schools were granted permission to raise fees, while in 2023–24 only 28 of 262 proposals were reviewed, allowing many institutions to hike charges without scrutiny.
However, the bill has drawn sharp criticism from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged the move was a “diversion” aimed at protecting over 350 private schools from existing High Court and Supreme Court directives that already required prior approval for fee hikes.
The bill was introduced in the Delhi Assembly on Monday and is expected to be taken up during the ongoing monsoon session.’
(With inputs from PTI)
