Delhi government issues notices to 11 private schools for fee hike, account lapses

After issuing show-cause notices to 11 private schools for unfair fee hikes and irregularities in accounts, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday claimed a major victory against a top private school in Dwarka after a court ordered an inspection led by the District Magistrate.

Talking to IANS, Sood said notices were issued to 11 schools after their accounts were inspected by Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) and prima facie there are signs of mismanagement.

“We don't want to create a sensation by announcing what action will be taken against them but I can say the Rekha Gupta government is committed to safeguarding interests of students and parents,” he said.

The schools named by the Minister include Green Land Public School, Rajgarh Colony; Geeta Bal Bharti Senior Secondary School, Rajgarh Colony; Saroj Montessori Public School, Vivek Vihar; Puneet Public School, Vishwas Nagar; Arwachin Bharti Bhawan School, Vivek Vihar; Lancer Convent, Prashant Vihar; The Srijan School, Model Town; Queen Mary's School; Guru Tegh Bahadur School, Mira Model School, Janakpuri and St. Gregorious School.

Talking about the top private school in Dwarka, he said a court has directed the "District Magistrate to stop high-handedness of the school in Dwarka and we have issued a show-cause notice to it."
He claimed that based on a report given by the DM, the court has even gone on to say that the Dwarka school should be taken over by the government for alleged wrongdoings.

The Minister said, due to the efforts of the Delhi government, the court has directed Director, Education, and his team to visit the Dwarka school and ensure that no violation of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, takes place in the institution.

“This is how we have managed to settle a five-year-old legacy issue related to the school,” he said, slamming the previous AAP government and its former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of doing little to discipline the school and only using it as a case to create sensational headlines.

Sood announced that with the help of SDMs the Rekha Gupta government has got accounts of 650 schools audited whereas the previous AAP government audited accounts of 750 schools in 10 years.

Asked about protests by parents over fee hike, Sood said complaints of unfair fee hike were not new to Delhi and accused the AAP government in the past of failing to act against schools.

“The AAP government only made sensational comments about private schools and took populist stands to grab media attention,” he said, accusing the previous government of inaction against errant schools.

The Minister said the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 mandates annual audits for all 1,677 private schools in the city. However, over the past decade, only about 75 schools were audited annually.

Hitting out at “unemployed leaders” of the AAP for raising non-issues to defame the two-month-old BJP government, he said the Opposition party made failed attempts to spread rumours about suspension of power bill subsidy and increase in power cuts in the city after the BJP government came to power.

He also accused the AAP of resorting to its failed tactic of making an allegation and running away, without caring to respond to clarifications and facts presented by the BJP government.