Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Delhi Assembly, Atishi, on Monday wrote to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta highlighting the issue of fee hike by private schools in the national capital, demanding freezing the increase with immediate effect and an audit of all such schools to be done by the government.

“To prevent harassment of parents, I urge you to issue orders with immediate effect that no school collects enhanced fees from the parents until accounts of such schools are audited”, the letter said.

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Moreover, in the letter, the LoP mentioned that all the accounts of schools seeking a fee hike be audited by the CAG empaneled auditors in a time-bound manner.

Additionally, it mentioned that permission to hike fees of even 1-2 per cent be given to only those schools whose legitimate expenses cannot be met in the absence of such a hike.

“For 10 years, when AAP was in government, there was a cap on fee hikes. If any discrepancy was found during audits, schools were asked to return the extra money. In fact, many former students were refunded their fees. Schools were required to seek permission from the Delhi government before raising their fees,” she claimed in the letter.

“I sincerely hope that you will not let the culture of rampant ‘commercialisation of education’ enter back into Delhi, which we painstakingly stopped in the last 10 years”, the LoP added.