AAP criticises Delhi Govt over mid-year private school fee hike

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Delhi Government, accusing it of colluding with private school owners to burden middle-class families through arbitrary mid-year fee hikes.

Addressing the media, AAP Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s refusal to meet aggrieved parents clearly showed a nexus between the ruling BJP and private school managements. “Parents of children studying in private schools are being forced to plead and protest against fee hikes. They are being stopped at barricades and have been denied any help. The CM is not even ready to meet them. This clearly exposes the alliance between the education mafia and the government,” he said.

Sharing videos of parents protesting outside the CM’s residence on X (formerly Twitter), Bharadwaj said, “This shows what the BJP government has done to the middle class. The collusion with private school owners is evident.”

Echoing similar concerns, senior AAP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Atishi accused the Rekha Gupta government of giving private schools a free hand to hike fees mid-academic year without facing any consequences. “Private schools are increasing fees in the middle of the academic year. It is clear that the BJP’s Rekha Gupta government has given a green signal for fee hike to private schools. Otherwise why is no action being taken against such schools?” Atishi asked.

She further alleged that despite promising strict measures to regulate arbitrary fee hikes, the so-called ‘four-engine BJP government’ had not brought any ordinance or clear policy to safeguard parents’ interests.

“The government had claimed that such arbitrary actions by private schools in Delhi would not be tolerated. They had promised to bring an ordinance. But the way this ordinance has been kept hidden from the people of Delhi by the BJP government clearly proves there is collusion between the BJP and these private schools.”