Fulfilling its promise of reforming school education and in a bid to end arbitrary fee hikes, the Delhi Government on Tuesday initiated the investigation of accounts of private unaided recognised schools which have submitted proposals to the Department of Education to hike tuition fees.
Addressing the chartered accountants at an interaction on Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Education is a top priority for the Delhi Government and our objective is to ensure that education is not commercialised and parents and students are not exploited by a few unscrupulous private managements.”
The CM termed the exercise as “an investigation” and not “an audit”. Calling a “pioneering effort”, Kejriwal said, “I hope this exercise will benefit citizens of Delhi and give new direction to the nation.”
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia sought to clarify that the City Government did not want to control private schools but only wanted the schools to abide by the directives of the Department of Education. According to Sisodia, schools that were allotted land at concessional rates cannot raise rate of tuition fee without prior sanction of the Director of Education. The Delhi High Court in its order of January 19, 2016 too, stated that unaided schools cannot flout the law.