In a period when school fees are skyrocketing throughout India, families are faced with impossible choices. The situation at Delhi Public School Dwarka has taken a turn for the worse. Fourteen-year-old Aaditya Mattey was unable to take his English board exam due to fee arrears. This incident is emblematic of a larger trend harming millions of families in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
Over the past few years, university fees at many institutions have been raised significantly. As an example, Aaditya’s annual fee at Delhi Public School Dwarka was 93,400 rupees ($1,077; £802) in 2020. By the academic year 2025-26, that fee has more than doubled to 189,096 rupees ($2,126). These edifying hikes have left parents like Gagandeep Singh with no choice but to make heart-rending decisions about who gets an education and who doesn’t. Singh documented a shocking 45% hike in his son’s fees at the Mira Model School last year. Just this year, those fees jumped once more—this time by more than 7%.
Even more recently, the on-going situation at Delhi Public School Dwarka ignited this concern. According to reports, the school locked students such as Aaditya into the library while employing security guards to prevent their access to classes. Even more troubling, reports show that some students were expelled for failure to pay these dues.
“Two or three minutes after I entered the class, guards and bouncers asked me to leave the room,” – Aaditya Mattey.
This treatment has left many parents disheartened. Divya Mattey, Aaditya’s mother, expressed her frustration, saying, “We never thought a school of this stature would treat children like this – bar them from classrooms, assign bouncers and make them sit in the library for days.”
The increase in tuition is not unique to their school. A recent survey revealed that over 80% of parents with children in private schools reported fee increases of more than 10% for the current academic year. Many private unaided schools in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have hiked fees by as much as 30%.
The Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) has issued unambiguous guidelines. Only the private schools on government-leased land need approval before they increase their fee. These schools are required to admit 25% of their students from economically weaker or disadvantaged backgrounds. The absence of centralized regulation for private schools across India means that rules can vary dramatically from state to state. Maharashtra allows no more than a 15% fee increase every two years. If a fourth of the parents protest, this hike can’t go into effect. In neighbouring Karnataka, private schools are allowed to increase fees by 10% each year if they prove their case through audits.
Yet, even with these regulations in place, parents have the sense that more should be done. Gagandeep Singh stated, “It’s not our job to regulate schools. That’s what the government is supposed to do.” Delhi parents protesting recent cuts to the city’s school system express similar feelings. Seat after seat, they delivered impassioned testimony about the dangers of high fees on their families and children’s learning.
The Delhi government has proposed the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025, aimed at addressing these issues. Parents have good reason to be skeptical about how much this legislation will protect children.
“Schools’ finances must be audited before each academic year so parents know what they’re paying for,” – Shweta Sharma Bagga.
Parents such as Pankaj Gupta are feeling the pinch of increased charges. As he put it, “We didn’t have an option. We just had to bite the bullet and pay.” This sentiment epitomizes the pressure cooker environment of our families, trying to piece together the education for their children while trying to make it affordable.
Given this current crisis, some important questions come into play regarding the management and curricular oversight of private schools across India. Critics argue that many schools prioritize profit over education quality and student welfare.
The on-the-ground realities at Delhi Public School Dwarka are punctuated by the point that families everywhere are just trying to survive in the environment. No wonder so many parents are concerned about the mental health toll and the academic impact of these skyrocketing fee increases on their children.
“My son is only 14. He should be focusing on his studies, not worrying about whether he’ll be allowed to sit in class tomorrow,” – Divya Mattey.
Yet the battle to regulate harmful school fees and ensure equitable access to education continues. In the process, parents are challenging themselves to hope—and holding out hope—for more than cosmetic change. They stress it is critical the government take their feedback into account when writing any new legislation to address these urgent matters.