In the year 2017, a film by Irrfan Khan came. The name was Hindi Medium. This film questions the Indian education system. There is a dialogue of this film- “These headmasters are not the headmaster, they are businessmen and nowadays studies, not studying, this is a business … business.”
There has been a ruckus over the increase in fees in private schools in the country’s capital Delhi. Parents allege that their children are not even allowed to sit in class if they do not pay the increased fees. Children are being mentally tortured by sitting in the library. In protest, parents have come out on the streets and are protesting. (Use-Video and Photos)
A political dispute has also arisen over the increase in fees in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of exploiting parents and students in association with “Education Mafia”. In response, Delhi Education Department Minister Ashish Sood has announced new steps to deal with this problem.
This issue is not new. But every year the issue of increase in fees arises. Parties accuse and counter but the parents do not get any concrete solution, in such a situation, we are asking- how are you.
Estimates of increase in annual fees in Delhi by 25 to 30%
There are a total of 1677 private schools in Delhi. Some of these schools and outside offices associated with the education department are constantly protesting against the increase in fees. On increasing the fees, the Directorate of Education says that this problem has increased further, in which the annual fees are estimated to increase by 25 to 30 percent. The Directorate of Education also believes that this issue is especially disturbing middle and lower class.
Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood also mentioned the names of some schools and also mentioned their fees hike. He said, DPS Dwarka has increased its fees in 2020, 13%in 2021, 9%in 2022, 8%in 2023 and 7%in 2024. The creation school increased the fees by 35% during the tenure of the AAP government. At the same time, the fees increased by 36% in 2024-25.
Along with this, he said that even though he was allowed to increase the fees of 15% in the year 2022-23. At the same time, in 2024-25, this school increased the fees by 13%.
The examples given by the Education Minister also include the Lancer Convent, which has allegedly increased the fees by 34% in 2024-25, Rukmini Devi Public School has allegedly increased the fees of Rs 1.68 crore in the same year by Rukmini Devi Public School, which has allegedly increased the fees of Rs 1.68 crore and Salawan Public School, which allegedly increased the fees of Rs 1.68 crore and 2024-25, while she has increased the fees of Rs 1.68 crore and 2024-25, while she has increased the fees of Rs 1.68 crore. Is in
Now you must be thinking that when the Directorate of Education is talking about understanding the pain of parents. The Education Minister himself is counting the names of schools, then why is the control not being controlled.
What are the rules regarding fees hike?
In order to understand this, it is necessary to know the rules of increase in fees and their screws in private schools of Delhi.
DSEAR-1973 i.e. Delhi School Education Act and Rules are applicable to control the fees of private schools in Delhi. Under this, private schools running on government land have to get permission from the Directorate of Education before increasing the fees. Schools have to propose their fees hike online every year in April. If the proposal is incomplete, it is rejected, and strict action can be taken on increasing the fees without permission.
However, in 2018, the Delhi High Court said in a judgment that private schools do not need permission from DoE to increase fees, provided they do not make profits.
There are a total of 1,677 private schools in the national capital. Of these, 335 private schools are running on the land allotted by the government. It is mandatory for such schools to inform the Education Department before increasing the fees. At the same time, other schools that are running on unauthorized land are out of this realm.
Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, says, “Ashish Sood is saying that out of 1677 private schools in Delhi, 335 i.e. 20 percent schools need permission before increasing the fees. It is a hidden that 80 percent of the schools do not need permission before increasing the fees. Such schools can increase their fees.”
“20%% of the schools which have to get permission before increasing the fees have also increased their fees. It is not wrong to say that almost every school in Delhi has increased its fees.”
However, a private school principal told the Indian Express on allegations of fees hike, “We did not increase the fees for nine consecutive years as it was rejected every year. It has been properly increased only when the need to increase the fees.”
AAP told the education minister’s plan
However, Education Minister Ashish Sood has said a plan to deal with the problem of increase in fees. At the same time, the Aam Aadmi Party has called it a gimmick.
Sood said that under the new initiative, the government will publish the school-wise figures on the website of the Directorate of Education within 10 days on the increase in fees in the last few years.
The Delhi Education Department has issued an email ID-ddeact1@gmail.com, where parents can send their complaints about arbitrary or fees hike of schools. The email will be monitored directly by the Deputy Director of Education.
What happened to the fee anomali committee?
This has happened now. Now let’s go back. Following the recommendations of the Duggal Committee in the late 1990s, the Delhi government was directed to form the Fees Anection Committee. So that parents can complain against the increase in fees. However, this committee never became fully operational.
In 2017, the Delhi High Court directed to form such a committee in every district. In December the same year, the committee was again notified and in a circular released in January 2018, a SOP was prepared to make the process of dealing with fees related complaints effective. According to which, the committee will have three members- District Deputy Education Director, Zonal Deputy Education Officer, and a Chartered Accountant.
Parents can file a complaint with a fee of Rs 100. The committee has to resolve the complaint in 90 days. But this committee remained mostly on paper, and it did not show its effect on the ground.
After this, in the year 2023, two PMU i.e. Project Management Unit was set up to check the proposals for increase in fees of private schools. Whose task was to check the financial documents of schools and assess the need to increase fees.
50-80% increase in three years- survey
Fees growth in private schools is a big problem not only in Delhi but also in other states of the country. According to a survey conducted by the community social media platform local circles across the country, 36 percent of the parents said that the school fees of their children have increased by 50-80% between the last three years i.e. 2022 and 25. At the same time, 8 percent said that more than 80 percent has increased.
8 percent of the parents said that the school fees have increased by 30-50, while 27 percent of the parents said that the school fees have become 10-30% expensive. There were 8 percent who said that fees have not increased in 3 years. At the same time, 13% told that he had changed his children’s school, so he is not aware of it.
At the same time, 93% of the parents say that their state governments have completely failed to stop this increase. Whereas, 7 percent of the parents believe that the government has taken effective steps. Explain that this survey was done among 31,000 parents in 309 districts of the country.
The report states that in a 2021 decision of 2021, the Supreme Court had said that governments cannot interfere in the autonomy of private schools for fees, but can regulate the fees structure to prevent profiteering and commercialization. However, it has not been implemented effectively, due to which many schools increase fees in different ways. So we are asking, how are you?
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