Recent fee hikes in Delhi’s private schools have triggered a political showdown, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing the BJP of siding with an “education mafia” to burden parents and students. In the wake of the controversy, Education Minister Ashish Sood outlined steps to tighten oversight and reform existing monitoring systems.
Sood highlighted a key loophole: while 355 private schools situated on government-allotted land are required to notify the Education Department before raising fees, a far larger group — 1,677 private schools — operate on unauthorised land and are currently not subject to the same regulations. He assured that the government is now working to establish a regulatory mechanism to bring these unauthorised schools under formal fee oversight.
Audits in Government vs Private Schools
While private schools typically conduct internal audits to assess their finances, the submission of these reports to the government remains inconsistent. More concerning is the absence of a standardized review process, raising questions about transparency in how fees are set.
A senior Delhi Education Department official noted that most private schools present themselves as non-profits in their audit reports, yet these documents are not uniformly scrutinized. Unlike government schools, which undergo both internal and external audits for robust financial accountability, private institutions often face only occasional external reviews. This discrepancy underscores the urgent need for a uniform audit framework applicable across all types of schools.
AAP’s Fee Governance Framework
In response to mounting concerns over arbitrary fee hikes, the Delhi government was directed—based on recommendations from the Duggal Committee and court orders in the late 1990s—to establish a Fee Anomaly Committee. The goal: to offer parents a formal avenue to challenge unjustified increases in school fees. However, the committee remained largely non-functional for years.
Despite repeated nudges from the Delhi High Court, including a 2017 directive mandating the formation of such committees in every district, progress was sluggish. The committee was eventually re-notified in December 2017, followed by a January 2018 circular laying out a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to streamline complaint resolution.
Under the SOP:
- Each district-level Fee Anomaly Committee was to include three members: the Deputy Director of Education (Chairperson), the local Deputy Education Officer, and a chartered accountant nominated by the Directorate of Education.
- Parents of students in recognised unaided schools could lodge complaints by filling out a form and paying a nominal fee of ₹100.
- Schools were required to produce all relevant financial documents upon request for investigation.
With 13 districts in Delhi, the structure was designed for wide coverage—yet implementation gaps have continued to hinder effective oversight.