Parents find themselves facing a difficult choice, given the alternative to expensive private schools is either government schools that fall short across parameters, or budget private schools that are often poor-quality teaching shops. This also explains why private schools, at the national level, have a larger share of new annual enrolments than government schools. Given that parents have little bargaining power against the schools — especially marquee private schools — approaching the courts is their only recourse.

The proposed law is also good for schools, which have thus far found headroom for even legitimate fee hikes limited.

It is in this context that the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill 2025, which ticks many boxes, offers relief to parents as well as schools. By providing for parental participation in fee decisions — at the school level; district and state level fee determination committees will handle appeals — as well as punitive provisions for violations, the law seeks to lessen the power imbalance between schools and parents. Similarly, laying down an explicit checklist against which the merit of a hike is to be adjudged can address the problem of “arbitrariness” of such decisions, allowing schools a chance to prove that their push for a hike is valid. That said, the Delhi government must avoid the pitfalls of over-regulation, subjective and arbitrary interventions by parents, remaining mindful of the gap private schools fill in the education market.