Page 16 - EW May 2025

Education News

DELHI including private education institu-
Tuition fees regulation mess tions, were directly or indirectly

(through entanglement in red tape)
denied this and other freedoms.
Following the landmark liber-
alisation and deregulation of the
Indian economy in 1991 and retire-
ment of committed leftist judges, in
TMA Pai vs. Union of India (2002)
an 11-judge bench of the apex court
over-ruled its own judgement in
Unnikrshnan’s Case (1993) and
restored the full right of administra-
tion, including admissions on merit
to private professional colleges (and
by implication private schools) and
permitted them to charge “reason-
able” tuition fees and earn revenue
surpluses for reinvestment in institu-
tional growth and development.
However in a “clarification”
Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta & education minister Ashish Sood (centre right) judgement on applying the prin-
ciples laid down in the T.M.A Pai
ithin india’s rapidly ex- According to reliable sources Case, in Islamic Academy vs. State
panding and influential within the state government, the all- of Karnataka (2003), a five-judge
Wmiddle class — whose important school-specific committee bench of the Supreme Court decreed
number is estimated by PRICE will comprise six school representa- the appointment of Fee Committees,
Report at 432 million — which shuns tives (including principal and three chaired by retired high court judges,
the country’s 1 million (state) gov- teachers), five parents/guardians to approve and regulate fees of
ernment primary-secondary schools (selected by draw, with represen- private education institutions to pre-
defined by ramshackle infrastruc- tation from women and reserved vent profiteering. This clarification
ture, chronic teacher absenteeism categories), and a nominee of the judgement has been seized upon by
and abysmal learning outcomes like DoE (Department of Education). a large number of state governments
the plague, the issue of capping aka The Bill details specific parameters to appoint fee fixation committees to
“regulating” private school tuition for fee determination, including the regulate private school fees.
fees is a hardy perennial. school’s location, infrastructure, “Private involvement in education
With the new academic year set education standards, operating has a long tradition in India. Almost
to commence in July, following expenses, and surplus revenue. For half of in-school students today at-
public uproar over annual fee hikes violations, the Bill proposes penal- tend private schools. India depends
in private schools, the newly elected ties ranging from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.10 equally on private schools to educate
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gov- lakh. It also prohibits coercive action her children. Therefore, we need to
ernment of Delhi has introduced new against students — such as expulsion find ways for sarkaar and bazaar
school fees regulation legislation. On or withholding results — for non- to work together. Unfortunately,
April 29, the state government ap- payment of fees. government and the judiciary have
proved a draft Delhi School Educa- Although under Article 19 (1) assumed an adversarial role, paint-
tion (Transparency in Fixation and (g) of the Constitution, all citizens ing all private schools with the same
Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025. have a fundamental right to “prac- brush. If government focuses on
The Bill proposes establishment tice any profession, or carry on any improving the quality of government
of a three-tier structure — school- occupation, trade or business,” the schools, as they become better, the
specific fees committees, district fee Supreme Court, packed with leftist demand for admission into private
appellate committees and revision “committed” judges in the 1970s, schools will moderate and many of
committees — to oversee fee struc- were inclined to permit govern- these transient issues would disap-
tures and address parents’ grievanc- ment to “dominate the commanding pear,” advises Dr. Parth Shah,
es.However, the draft has not been heights of the Indian economy” as a former professor of economics at the
made public at time of writing. result of which private enterprises, University of Michigan and currently

16 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2025