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Bhagwant Singh Mann said schools that increased fees beyond the prescribed limit over the last three years would be required to refund the excess amount collected from parents.
Mann said the government had received hundreds of complaints from parents over arbitrary fee hikes and decided to take stringent action to protect students and families. (IMAGE: SOURCED)
The Punjab government on Wednesday announced a cap on annual fee hikes by private schools, saying institutions will no longer be allowed to increase fees by more than 5% a year.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said schools that increased fees beyond the prescribed limit over the last three years would be required to refund the excess amount collected from parents. The government plans to bring an ordinance and later introduce legislation in the Assembly, which Mann described as the “strictest” law in the country against arbitrary fee hikes by private schools.
The proposed framework will apply to all private schools in Punjab and cover not only tuition fees but also all mandatory charges and funds collected from students. The move comes amid growing complaints from parents over rising school fees and follows a recent incident in Amritsar that triggered fresh concerns over the burden on families.
In a post on social media platform X, Mann said the government had received hundreds of complaints from parents over arbitrary fee hikes and decided to take stringent action to protect students and families. He said schools that raised fees by more than 15% over the last three years would face scrutiny and be asked to refund excess collections.
Addressing reporters, the chief minister blamed previous governments for failing to enforce existing regulations. He argued that amendments introduced in 2019 under the then Congress government effectively gave private schools a free hand to raise fees through a disclosure mechanism that was rarely implemented in practice. According to Mann, this allowed many institutions to impose steep fee increases with little oversight.
Punjab currently regulates private school fees through the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016. The original law capped annual fee hikes at 8%, but later amendments created provisions that allowed schools to exceed the limit after public disclosure. The Mann government now wants to tighten those rules and lower the cap to 5%.
The government said all pending complaints related to fee hikes would be reviewed. Regulatory authorities will be empowered to examine whether fee increases are justified by actual expenditure or development work and ensure schools are not profiteering or diverting funds collected from students.
Schools found violating the rules will face a graded penalty system. A first violation will attract financial penalties, while repeat offences could lead to steeper fines. A third violation could result in withdrawal of recognition or affiliation, besides orders to refund excess fees collected from parents.
The Punjab government is also considering financial audits of private schools, including a review of fee collections, expenditure, salaries, infrastructure spending and related-party transactions over the past several years. Officials say the exercise is aimed at determining whether fee hikes were justified and whether funds were used for educational purposes.
The proposed ordinance is expected to strengthen oversight of private schools, give parents a stronger mechanism to challenge fee increases and curb profiteering in the education sector, the government said.
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Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has c…Read More
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