AAP slams new education bill on private school fees, calls it 'against middle-class families'

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday slammed the newly introduced education bill regulating fees of private schools, calling it "against middle-class parents and students."

Bharadwaj further said that the party has launched a campaign against the law and is distributing pamphlets outside private schools across Delhi to raise awareness among parents on the hike in the fees.

"A new education law has been made regarding the fees of private schools. This has been made entirely for private school owners and is against the middle class and parents of children. For this, we have started a campaign today, under which we are distributing these pamphlets outside private schools in all assemblies of Delhi. We are distributing them to make parents aware... and there is no provision in it about how the fee hike implemented on April 1 will be rolled back," Bhardwaj told reporters here in the national capital.

Earlier, on August 6, AAP, in their attack on the government, termed the school fee regulation bill as "anti-parent and pro-management."

The party also proposed four key amendments to safeguard the rights of the parents.

Senior AAP leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly , Atishi, shared that AAP has submitted proposals mandating school audits, elected parent representation, easier complaint thresholds, and the right to challenge committee decisions in court.

The Assembly LoP said BJP MLAs must now prove through their votes whether they stand with Delhi's parents or with private school profiteers , according to an official statement.

Addressing a press conference alongside AAP Sanjeev Jha and MLA Kuldeep Kumar, Atishi stated, "The BJP-led Delhi government has brought a bill to regulate private school fees -- a bill that has been in discussion since April. That month, there was chaos across Delhi. Private schools were arbitrarily hiking fees, throwing children out of classrooms, locking them up in libraries."

Highlighting the parents protesting against the hike in sweltering heat, the Delhi LoP stated, "Parents were standing outside schools in 40-degree heat, protesting. At the time, the BJP government said it would bring a bill. The bill was cleared by the Cabinet in April. But April passed, then May, June, July -- and only in August has this bill been tabled in the Assembly. Why this four-month delay?"

She further slammed the BJP-led government for not consulting with the stakeholders properly, alleging that for four months, the bill was kept hidden.

"This bill saw no consultation -- not with any educationists, not with legal experts, and certainly not with parents. Parents kept asking to give their input, to at least be shown the draft -- but for four months, the bill was hidden. Why? Because this bill is not for the parents of children studying in private schools. It is only for the benefit of private school owners."