Delhi: Atishi challenges CM over fee hike in private schools, demands immediate stay

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and senior AAP leader Atishi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Delhi Government over the ongoing controversy surrounding fee hikes in private schools. In a press conference and a detailed letter to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Atishi accused the BJP government of allowing private schools a free hand to exploit parents through arbitrary and unchecked fee increases.

Atishi claimed that the situation in Delhi had turned chaotic, with parents across the city staging protests at the gates of private schools, some even being locked out of school premises as institutions continued to raise fees without any oversight. “Ever since the BJP came to power in Delhi, private schools have started looting parents through indiscriminate hikes. The government has turned a blind eye to it,” she alleged.

Drawing a contrast with the previous AAP-led government, Atishi said under Arvind Kejriwal’s leadership, strict mechanisms were in place to prevent such arbitrary hikes. “For 10 years, fee hikes were allowed only after mandatory audits conducted by CAG-empanelled chartered accountants. Many schools were ordered to refund illegally collected fees. We protected parents from exploitation,” she said.

Challenging the current administration to take immediate corrective measures, Atishi demanded that all private schools that had raised fees in 2024-25 be audited by CAG-empanelled professionals.

“If the BJP is not hand-in-glove with private schools, then impose an immediate stay on all fee hikes. Let there be a full audit. Only if a school is not making profits, should it be allowed to raise fees — and that too by just 1–2 per cent,” she said.

In her letter to the CM, Atishi listed specific instances of fee hikes by schools such as Lancer’s Convent (30 per cent), Salwan Public School (18 per cent) and St Angel’s School (11 per cent). Other schools mentioned included Ahlcon Public School, Birla Vidya Niketan, Rukmini Devi Public School and Greenfields Public School — all of which, she said, had raised fees without justification and were pressuring parents to comply.

Atishi criticised the BJP government’s inaction despite daily protests and said the silence of the administration raised suspicions of collusion. “It appears that under your government, private schools are trying to make up for the money they couldn’t extract in the past decade. The silence from your administration makes it seem like this extortion has your support,” she stated.

She reminded the BJP of its repeated promises to implement the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, in Delhi. Quoting Clause 8.3 of the NEP, she noted that even the policy acknowledges the need to curb commercialisation and exploitation by private schools. “What the NEP aspires to achieve nationwide, we had already implemented in Delhi,” Atishi said.

The AAP leader concluded by outlining three demands to the Rekha Gupta government — immediate stay on all fee hikes, mandatory time-bound audits by CAG-empanelled auditors and permitting only minimal fee increases wherever justified. “What the CM does now will reveal whether the BJP stands with Delhi’s parents or the education mafia,” she said.

Sharing her letter on social media, Atishi reiterated her stance, writing: “There is an uproar in Delhi due to the arbitrary increase in fees by private schools. Parents are protesting outside the schools. But the BJP government is maintaining silence.” She added that action — or the lack of it — would clearly show the government’s priorities.

Delhi