Delhi govt to bring ordinance to control arbitrary hike in school fees: Education Minister Ashish Sood

Sood claimed that “…school fees went up every year. But in our 100 days, not a single school increased its fees.” The minister also played video reports by various news outlets showing parents protesting against fee hikes at Delhi Public School (DPS), Dwarka. “The issue of fee hikes is not new. These protests have been happening since 2021, even earlier — and yet the previous AAP government did nothing,” Sood said.

“Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal have gone and hidden in Punjab and did nothing on this… It was the time of COVID. Arvind Kejriwal was busy building the ‘sheesh mahal’ and now the AAP is blaming our CM Rekha Gupta-led government,” Sood said.

“I want to ask them why didn’t they stop it? We are the ones who sent the DM committee to schools. It is because of our report that the high court issued stringent orders,” he added.

Along with this, Sood also listed several education-related steps taken by the government in the last 100 days. He said the government is focusing on improving both school and higher education, especially for students from poor economic backgrounds.

“For EWS (Economically Weaker Section) admissions, I say with full confidence that this year, not a single complaint has emerged from Delhi. Last year, the Opposition had handed out EWS admissions…in households, without transparency. This year, with the push of a button, 28,000 children received EWS admission letters. Soon, 38,000 children will get final admissions,” said Sood.

“From digital libraries to AI-enabled smart classrooms, we are investing in students from every background, ensuring no child is left behind,” he said.

One of the major moves has been the release of Rs 274.34 crore as grant-in-aid to 12 Delhi University colleges and all state universities, according to the minister who added that this helped clear pending salaries and ended the uncertainty faced by teachers and staff.

In technical education, Rs. 19 crore was given in scholarships to over 1,300 students from low-income families (earning less than Rs 3 lakh per year). These scholarships had been on hold since 2022.

The government has also partnered with Physics Wallah and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to provide free online coaching for NEET and CUET-UG. So far, over 23,000 students from Delhi government schools have joined these classes — including 3,458 for NEET and 19,756 for CUET, the minister said.

Sood said the Cabinet has approved the setting up of 75 new ‘CM Shri Schools’ at a budget of Rs 100 crore. These schools will have smart classrooms, AR/VR labs, AI-based learning, and courses in Data Science and Robotics. He said the government is also planning to set up digital libraries in Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Schools of Excellence. Around 250 school libraries are being digitised, and 100 AI-enabled language labs will be created to help students learn English, French, German, and Spanish, he said.

To support digital learning, 1,200 laptops will be given to meritorious students scoring above 90 per cent in 20 government schools by September. These students were chosen under the Mukhyamantri Digital Education Scheme. Under the Madan Mohan Malviya Vidya Shakti Mission, 2,200 students will receive help to prepare for exams like NEET, JEE, CLAT, CA, and CUET, he added.

The government has also increased school uniform subsidies. Now, government school students will get Rs 1,250 for nursery to Class 5 (earlier it was Rs 1,100), Rs 1,500 for classes 6 to 8 (from Rs 1,400 earlier), and Rs 1,700 for classes 9 to 12 (from Rs 1,500).

Meanwhile, a separate meeting was held between the parents’ association United Parents Voice (UPV) and Leader of Opposition Atishi, wherein parents from around 50 private schools raised concerns about the ordinance and shared cases of alleged harassment and discrimination by schools. They said the Bill was introduced without consulting parents.