New Delhi [India], August 2 : Slamming the BJP's proposed school fee law, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said the bill is a direct assault on parents and a bonanza for private schools.
Saurabh Bharadwaj warned that this law is tailor-made to "protect the education mafia" and demanded answers from the Chief Minister and Education Minister on how arbitrary hikes will be rolled back and why audit mechanisms were deliberately erased.
Addressing a press conference, AAP Delhi State President Bharadwaj pointed to the developments since BJP formed the government in Delhi, stating, "When the new academic session for private schools began on April 1, almost every school increased their fees. Some schools even raised it by as much as 80 to 82 per cent. We saw parents protesting outside schools like DPS Dwarka for several days, shouting slogans against the administration. Children were harassed -- denied entry into classrooms, made to sit in libraries, and bouncers were deployed outside the schools."
Recalling the BJP government's earlier promise, he continued, "I remember a senior minister making a big statement at the time. And since it was said by a minister, it reflected the official position of the government. The minister claimed that the Arvind Kejriwal government conducted audits of only 90 schools in a year. He announced that the BJP government had audited all private schools. Everyone will recall the massive chest-thumping around this claim. He also promised that these audits would be made public."
Questioning the outcome of those promises, Saurabh Bharadwaj asked, "It's been nearly four months now -- where are those audit reports? When will they be made public? That is our question to the government."
On the government's shifting stance, he added, "Then they said they're bringing a new law and that it would be tabled in the Assembly. But they didn't release it publicly, didn't ask for any feedback or comments. Then they claimed the matter was urgent -- an emergency -- and said they'd bring it as an ordinance. They said it had been sent to the central government and to the President. But even that ordinance never came. What was the emergency then? No one understands."
The AAP Delhi Unit President further added, "Now, during the Monsoon Session, the government is once again bringing a law on school fees. A copy has been shared with MLAs. After reading it, MLAs are alarmed. The very fears we had been now proving true."
Highlighting a drastic change in grievance redressal, he explained, "Until now, even under the 1973 law, if a single parent felt that fees had been unfairly hiked, they could file a complaint with the Director of Education. Now, that has been scrapped. Under the new law, you'll need a minimum of 15% of parents to raise a complaint. In a school with 3,000 students, that means identifying 450 parents -- a nearly impossible task. You'd have to gather their names, phone numbers, visit their homes, convince them, and collect their signatures -- only then can a complaint be registered."
Lashing out at the logic behind this change, he said, "What is the thought behind this? Ashish Sood must explain. When a single parent could earlier file a complaint, why is there a new barrier? It's not like school parents regularly meet at weddings or parties. After putting a child on the school bus, most parents head home. How will they get a list of other parents? Who will go to 450 homes and get signatures? This is a direct conspiracy to ensure that no complaint can ever be filed."
Using a sharp analogy, he said, "It's like saying if a sewer overflows in your lane, you'll need to collect signatures from 15% of your neighbourhood before the authorities clear it. Why? If one person makes a complaint, take action. Where did this logic of collective complaints come from?"
Criticising the new committee system, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "Committees, committees, committees -- that's all they've done. From my experience, I can tell you that this law is so weak that every year, schools will arbitrarily hike fees, and parents won't even be able to complain. That's the kind of law this is."
He elaborated, "The fee determination committee will have five people from the school side and five from the parents' side. They're supposed to decide fees by mutual agreement.' But the school decides who its five members will be -- the principal, and any teacher they choose. And who will represent the parents? That will be selected through a lottery, and the school will conduct that lottery. So naturally, schools will select their own 'yes men' to represent parents and then set arbitrary fees."
Drawing a parallel, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "We saw the same manipulation when schools used to conduct lotteries for EWS (Economically Weaker Section) admissions. Everyone knows that EWS admissions didn't happen properly -- they gave seats to their own people."
Hitting out at BJP minister Ashish Sood's earlier claims, he added, "He was beating the drum about audits, saying all audits would be conducted. But this new law doesn't even have a provision for audits. They've removed it entirely. They should have mandated annual audits of all schools, but they didn't. That means the government never intended to conduct audits. They haven't even released the audit reports they claimed to have already conducted."
He added, "There was also a long-standing land clause from the 1973 law -- that schools given land by the government would need prior approval from the Director of Education before hiking fees. Even that has been diluted and removed. Now, no such approval is needed. The same committee -- controlled by schools -- will decide. Those who received land worth crores for free from the government have been given a Diwali gift under this law."
Concluding with pointed questions, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "I have only two questions for the Delhi Chief Minister and Minister Ashish Sood. First -- after this law comes into effect, how will the fee hikes done in April -- by DPS and many others -- be rolled back? Explain this to me, because I can't understand it. You drafted the law. Please clarify how it addresses the hikes that have already happened." ANI)