Just days before the new academic session begins on April 1, around 40 agitated parents staged a protest outside Salwan Public School in East Delhi's Mayur Vihar Phase 3 against the alleged removal of their children from the school rolls over a fee dispute.
Parents have accused the school of adopting coercive measures, including withholding report cards and academic access, and threatening to remove students from the rolls, to enforce payment of what they describe as an arbitrary and steep fee hike.
According to the parents, the school has increased fees by nearly 57 per cent over the past two years. They insist they will only pay fees approved by the Delhi Government's Directorate of Education.
The school, however, claims that it did not increase fees from 2016 to 2024, even as operational costs have risen by nearly 150% between 2016 and 2026.
Richa Sharma Katiyal, principal of Salwan Public School, said, "Private schools do not require prior approval from the Delhi Government's Directorate of Education to increase their fees."
In a notice sent to parents, the school stated that no objections have been raised by the Directorate of Education regarding the increased fees, nor has the Directorate reviewed the structure of the hiked fees.
The ongoing fee dispute has become a major flashpoint between the school administration and a section of parents. While parents claim the fee hike was implemented without approval from the Directorate of Education, the school argues that continuing with a fee structure set in 2015-16 is no longer financially sustainable.
Mohit Arora, a parent of a Class 2 student and a chartered accountant, said his child's name was struck off just days before report cards were to be issued.
"Day before yesterday, we received a strike-off letter. We were supposed to get our son's report card today, but we didn't receive it. His name has been struck off," Arora said, adding, "I don't want our children to suffer or face psychological pressure."
Arora also highlighted the financial strain on families, saying, "School fees are skyrocketing and unregulated, and the system feels compromised. Parents are being forced to think about earning more just to keep up."
Second Round Of Removals
This is the second major flashpoint in the dispute. Parents claim that around 25 students were targeted earlier, and now another 40 are facing similar action.
The school had issued notices on March 25 warning that if pending fees were not cleared by March 31, students would not be allowed to attend classes from April 1, the start of the new academic session.
The controversy continues despite prior intervention by the Directorate of Education, which had reportedly issued multiple orders directing the school not to strike off students' names or deny education over disputed fees.
Wider Concerns Across Delhi
The dispute reflects a broader pattern emerging across private schools in the capital, where parents have raised similar complaints about withholding results, threats of expulsion, and unregulated fee hikes.
Commenting on this trend, Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School, Dwarka, told NDTV: "Parents are not paying fees for months together. Schools are helpless. Parents want their children to be promoted to the new class without clearing fees. This is not fair. Even CBSE will not help. In Class XII, a few parents do not pay for the whole year. The school has no option but to withhold admit cards."
