The Delhi government is poised to introduce the Delhi School Education Bill, 2025, during the Monsoon session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, commencing August 4, 2025. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced that the bill aims to regulate arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in Delhi. The bill, already approved via a Cabinet ordinance on April 29, 2025, proposes strict penalties for schools found to be engaging in unjustified fee increases.
The Delhi School Education Bill, 2025, includes significant financial penalties for private schools that violate the new regulations. For a first offense, schools could face fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Repeat offenders would face even harsher penalties, with fines escalating between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Furthermore, the penalties will continue to increase if the school does not refund the excess fees within a specified timeframe. After 20 days of non-compliance, the fine doubles, after 40 days it triples, and it continues to increase with each subsequent delay. In cases of repeated violations, the school's management could be banned from holding official positions and from proposing future fee revisions.
The move to regulate private school fees comes in the wake of public outcry and controversy surrounding Delhi Public School (DPS) Dwarka, where students were allegedly expelled for failing to pay increased fees. The Delhi High Court intervened, describing the school's actions as "inhuman" and ordering the reinstatement of the affected students after partial payment of the hiked fees. This incident highlighted the lack of regulation concerning the fee structures of private schools in Delhi, prompting the government to take action.
The upcoming Monsoon session of the Delhi Assembly is scheduled for five days and is expected to be entirely paperless, utilizing the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) for seamless access to legislative documents. Besides the fee regulation bill, the session will address various issues, with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) planning to challenge the BJP-led government on civic issues such as monsoon flooding, water supply, and pollution. AAP MLA Atishi has accused the government of siding with private school lobbies over concerned parents.
Education Minister Ashish Sood has emphasized that the ordinance is a major victory for parents, especially those with children in private unaided schools. The Delhi government has also declared a zero-tolerance policy towards schools that increase fees without approval, directing the Directorate of Education (DOE) to investigate such complaints and take strict action against violators. The bill also proposes a three-tier regulatory mechanism, including school-level, district, and revision committees, with the latter empowered to deliver binding decisions in case of disputes. Parents have sought more transparency in the formation of school-level committees and clarity on the parameters used to determine fee hikes. They are also seeking details on how district and state-level committees will function and whether documents and deliberations will be accessible to them.
In related news, the Delhi government is set to establish student clubs in 100 government schools for the 2025-26 academic session, focusing on language skills and co-curricular activities. Each school will have two clubs, one for a language and another for areas like science, sports, or visual and performing arts.