For decades, the lives of Delhi’s middle-class parents have been defined by relentless aspiration, often shadowed by a quiet undercurrent of desperation. They tightened household budgets, postponed holidays, cut corners on personal dreams, so that their children could attend private schools that promised a brighter tomorrow. Yet, year after year, many of these families were ambushed by sudden fee circulars—announcing hikes of 20, 30, sometimes even 40 per cent—issued with the cold efficiency of an ATM receipt.
It was not just money being demanded, it was dignity being denied. Once a child enters a school, shifting becomes almost impossible. To pull a child out midway is to uproot friendships, disrupt learning, and risk rejection elsewhere. Schools are acutely aware of this, and they know that parents, trapped by circumstance, cannot easily walk away. Each arbitrary hike, therefore, acquires the character of blackmail; a cruel demand to pay up or risk imperilling your child’s future. This is why, earlier this year, hundreds of parents gathered at Jantar Mantar to protest fee hikes of up to 45 per cent, carrying placards that told their own story of anxiety and helplessness.
This month, however, a long-awaited moment of relief arrived. The Delhi Assembly passed the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Act, 2025, a reform parents had been demanding for more than 50 years. Ever since the Delhi School Education Act of 1973, most of the city’s private schools had operated beyond the reach of government oversight. In her address, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta described this long absence of regulation as a vanvas (living in forest) for parents, and declared that the exile has now come to an end.
Illustration: Deni Lal
The new law brings all 1,700 unaided schools under regulation and ensures that fee hikes can occur only once in three years, and even then only with the scrutiny of committees where parents have a voice. It also establishes a layered appeal system, giving parents a clear path to seek redress for their grievances. These provisions carry strong deterrents, including hefty fines, withdrawal of recognition, and even government takeover of non-compliant schools.
This achievement bears the imprint of determined political will. CM Rekha Gupta and Education Minister Ashish Sood deserve full credit for carrying this law through. It is one thing to sympathise with parental distress, quite another to take on the powerful private school lobby and deliver justice. Their resolve has given parents in Delhi what they had been denied for so long: a fair chance at transparency and stability.
This reform also resonates deeply with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has consistently emphasised that the foundation of a Viksit Bharat must rest on fairness, inclusivity and opportunity for all. By lightening the load on Delhi’s middle-class, this law transforms anxiety into assurance and restores education to its rightful place as the great equaliser of Indian society.
Parents in Delhi have waited half-a-century for this relief. Their long vigil at protest sites, endless petitions to authorities, and resilience against intimidation, all find vindication in this law. The children who watched their mothers and fathers fight these battles will remember that justice in a democracy could be delayed, but it is never denied. And, perhaps, when they sit in positions of power, they will recall that the right angle of education is not the privilege of the few but the protection of the many.
Bansuri Swaraj is the Lok Sabha member from New Delhi.