School Fee Regulation Law Criticised as ‘Eyewash’; Committees, Complaint Restrictions and Rampant Overcharging Raise Serious Concerns
By Saksham
The Delhi government’s newly notified Delhi School Education (Fee Fixation and Regulation) Act, 2025, touted as a strong step toward regulating private school fees, is now being criticised as largely cosmetic. While the law claims to introduce transparency and accountability, major loopholes and structural weaknesses may allow private schools to continue existing exploitative practices unchecked.
Parent groups argue that the Act does nothing substantial to stop schools from minting money through hidden charges, overpriced materials, and manipulative fee structures. Instead, the new mechanism may further entrench school monopolies under the guise of regulation.
School-Level Committee: Easy to Influence, Easy to Control
The first tier of monitoring—the School-Level Fee Regulation Committee—is dominated by school-side members:
- Chairman from school management
- Principal
- Three teachers
- Parent member
- One education department observer
Such a structure heavily tilts power toward the school administration. Parent representatives may feel intimidated, while the lone government observer can be easily influenced or sidelined.
This allows schools to approve their own fee structures with minimal resistance, making the committee a rubber stamp mechanism rather than a regulatory body.
15% Complaint Clause Called “Unrealistic and Anti-Parent”
The Act requires that at least 15% of parents must jointly support a complaint before any district-level scrutiny begins. In reality, this clause:
- Silences individual parents
- Forces collective action that is difficult to mobilise
- Protects schools from accountability
Parents rarely speak up due to fear that the school may target their children academically or behaviourally. In such a sensitive environment, expecting 15% parents to publicly unite is unrealistic.
This single clause alone ensures that very few complaints will ever reach the District or Revision Committees—making the law toothless.
District & Revision Committees: Strong on Paper, Weak in Practice
Even though the Act establishes higher committees for appeals, they depend entirely on complaints reaching them. With the 15% requirement blocking most cases, these committees may exist only in theory, not in practice.
Government’s Failure to Address Core Issues
- While the law focuses on regulatory structure, it leaves several major issues untouched:
- No restrictions on monthly extra charges
- No control on overpriced booklists
- No regulation of uniform and stationery monopolies
- No mechanism to stop schools from forcing parents to purchase from specific vendors
- Parents argue that despite years of concerns, the government has failed to bring an action plan that addresses these exploitative practices directly.
- A Law That Looks Strong, but Works Weak
The Fee Regulation Act 2025 creates an impression of reform, but its execution structure may instead:
- Strengthen school dominance
- Limit parent intervention
- Enable easy manipulation of committees
- Reduce accountability
- Allow hidden charges to continue
The law appears to be more of an eyewash, offering cosmetic changes without tackling the root causes of financial exploitation in private schools.
Schools Continue to Charge Extra Money Every Month
Despite repeated complaints over the years, private schools routinely charge parents extra every month under various heads:
- Extra-curricular activity fees
- Event and celebration fees
- Annual function charges
- Cultural day fees
- Sports day or activity day charges
- Maintenance and development fees
These add-ons, often disguised under vague labels, significantly increase the financial burden on parents. However, the new law does not offer any clear mechanism to stop such monthly extractions.
- Overpriced Books, Uniforms, and Even Basic Items Sold Through Schools
- One of the biggest pain points for parents is the commercialisation of school essentials. Many private schools:
- Sell books at inflated prices
- Force parents to buy uniforms (including socks, shoes, winter wear) only from school-authorised vendors
- Sell stationery like pencils, notebooks, diaries at high margins
- Make winter or sports dress compulsory—and restrict purchase to specific vendors
These practices allow schools to run unregulated commercial operations, forcing parents to spend thousands beyond the official fee structure.
Yet, the new Fee Regulation Act fails to address this long-standing exploitation, leaving parents frustrated and financially drained.
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