Page 20 - EW September 2025 Final

Education News

Delhi-based advocate and long- torious students with high
time private school fees regulation potential, thereby enabling
activist Ashok Agarwal is also dis- them to access high-quality
mayed by the lengthy bureaucratic education and fulfil their
provisions of the Act. “Under s.21 of academic and career as-
the RTE Act, 2009, School Manage- pirations,” says a circular
ment Committees dominated by of the Directorate of Edu-
parents of in-school children could cation of the Delhi state
have been empowered to set school government dated July
fees. There’s no need to establish a 23. However it’s pertinent
new three-layered structure to do the to note that the allocation
same job,” says Agarwal. for education in the 2025-
Be that as it may even as state 26 budget of the BJP state
governments countrywide driven by Delhi CM Rekha Gupta: unenthusiastic response government at 21.4 percent
the impulse to assuage the powerful is almost 5 percent lower
middle class which foolishly invites promoted by citizens from post-tax than 26.7 percent allocated by the AAP
government interference in pri- savings. If such legislation is struck government in 2024-25.
vate education (see EW cover story down, politicians can always blame This “borrowed initiative” of Delhi
https://educationworld.in/private- the judiciary. state’s new BJP “double engine” gov-
school-fees-beware-government-reg- Autar Nehru (Delhi) ernment hasn’t enthused monitors of
ulation-trojan-horse/), Bengaluru- the national capital’s education sys-
based advocate Divya Balagopal, tem. “Like the previous AAP govern-
who has established an excellent Show-piece initiative ment’s world-class model RVV schools
reputation in the education laws programme, this is also mere window
domain, says that the law laid down wept to power in the legislative dressing. Despite the BJP’s election
by a full bench of the Supreme Court assembly election of Febru- manifestos stretching back to 1990s
in its landmark judgement in T.M.A. Sary this year after ten years in promising to raise national educa-
Pai Foundation Case (2002) is the opposition, the state’s BJP govern- tion expenditure to 6 percent of GDP
last word on the issue of government ment has followed the precedent of and NEP 2020 mandating 10 per-
regulation of fees levied by private its predecessor Aam Aadmi Party cent of government expenditure for
independent education institutions. (AAP) by according high priority to education, in Union budget 2025-26
“In my view all such school fees raising government school education the Centre’s allocation for education
fixation Acts are regulatory over- standards. But six months after chief nominally increased to 0.55 percent
reach and do not conform with the minister Rekha Gupta announced of GDP. Likewise the Delhi BJP gov-
principles laid down by the Supreme the promotion of 75 CM Shri Schools ernment’s allocation for education as
Court in its well-considered judge- at a budgeted cost of Rs.100 crore, and a percentage of the budget is lower
ment in the T.M.A. Pai Case. In that 100 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam AI (artifi- than in 2024-25. Upgrading 75 out
judgement the apex court directed cial intelligence) powered languages of 1,230 state government schools is
that fees should be ‘reasonable’ and learning labs for children in 1,230 mere tokenism and is likely to gener-
reasonableness is context driven. In state government schools to learn ate heart-burn among the majority of
my opinion as long as fees levied are German, French, Sanskrit, Urdu and children who won’t be admitted into
reasonable and commensurate with Spanish, these programmes are yet to these upgraded government schools.
the quality of education provided, be launched. Such tokenism generates social ten-
government cannot directly or indi- “The CM SHRI schools aim at en- sions. The government’s job is to raise
rectly regulate the fees of private un- suring greater autonomy and flexibil- the entire floor of public education,”
aided education institutions. All such ity with a focus on promoting excel- says a professor of education at a top-
legislation is likely to be struck down lence and equity in public schooling. ranked private university, speaking
by the judiciary,” says Balagopal. These schools are designed to serve on condition of anonymity because
Nevertheless, driven by populism as model educational institutions, he fears “institutional and government
and middle class pressure, instead equipped with modern infrastructure vindictiveness”.
of raising teaching-learning stan- and advanced teaching methodologies With more than 50,000 applica-
dards in government schools to the aligned with New Education Policy tions for admission into the well-fur-
level of private institutions, state (NEP) 2020, NCFSE and NCFFS. The bished CM Shri schools which offer a
governments are enacting legislation admission to these schools will pri- few hundred seats having poured in,
to regulate fees of private schools oritise talented and deserving meri- child welfare activists highlight that

20 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2025