Law to control school fee hike

September 12, 2026

The foundation of Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government is renowned for two models. One is the medical model, which provides affordable and accessible medical care to the common man through Mohalla Clinics. The second is the education model, which aims to raise the standard of government schools and curb the arbitrary fee policies of private schools, so that the goal of quality and affordable education for all can be achieved. On Wednesday, the Punjab government notified a law to control the rampant fee hikes in private schools in Punjab. It has been made clear that no private school can increase fees by more than 5 percent in a year.

If private schools want to increase fees even this much, then they will have to inform all the parents about it on the website 90 days in advance. A regulatory body will be formed in every district to control private schools and now the decision of fee hike in private schools will be taken with the approval of this regulatory body. If any person or school is dissatisfied with any order of the regulatory body, then he can appeal within 45 days of the order being issued. Books are also sold in schools by their contractors forcefully. This has also been stopped. Now schools will have to mention three vendors from where children can buy books.

Another important point is that schools that have collected arbitrary fees of more than 5 percent in the last two to three years will have to refund this amount, and that too within 90 days. For this, the fee hikes of the last three years will be assessed. There were questions about who would refund it, but it has been decided that if the refund is not made within 90 days, an additional penalty will be imposed. The fines for fee hikes, which were previously 30,000, 50,000, and 100,000 rupees, have now been increased to 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 rupees, respectively.

Strict laws have been enacted to control fee hikes. These laws have been notified, but now we have to see how they are implemented. Parents are the ones who need them; they want their children to receive a high-quality education so they won’t be defeated in future life’s challenges. Parents have become convinced that only English-medium private schools can provide such education. While the government has attempted to raise the standard of government schools, developing new curricula to adapt to changing times is also essential.