Punjab caps private school fee hike at 5%, extra charge in last 3 years to be returned

Private schools in Punjab that raised fees by more than 5 per cent annually over the past three years will have to refund the excess amount, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said, adding that such institutions will also not be allowed “the escape route” of “adjusting” the overcharged money.

“Those private schools that have increased fees by more than 15 per cent over past three-year period will be required to refund the excess amount to parents. For example if a school increased fee by 25 per cent during past three years, then they will have to refund parents the excess 10 percent,” Mann said.

Mann was addressing a press conference to announce the immediate implementation of an ordinance on capping fee hike by private schools in the state. He said Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has given his approval to the “Punjab Regulation of Fee of Un-aided Educational Institutions (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026”, which the Cabinet had cleared last month.

Mann said a regulatory committee headed by Deputy Commissioners will scrutinise fee hikes.

“We will not allow ‘vidya mafia’ (education mafia) to be created. We have already tackled various kinds of mafia, we don’t want one more. This is a historic decision and Punjab will become the first state where private schools will refund excess fees charged,” he said, adding “we will not allow private schools to become factories for profit only”.

He said the Ordinance would bring relief to 32 lakh students studying in 7,800 private schools in the state. The Ordinance caps annual fee hike at 5%, mandates refunds where fee increase has exceeded 15% over the last three years, treats all charges, including transport and building fee, as part of tuition fee, and prescribes stringent penalties, including derecognition, for violations.

Mann said all private schools would be required to submit details of fees charged during the past four years within 10 days. The information would be uploaded to the Education Department’s portal where it will scrutinised by the government over the following month.

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He said the government would conduct audit of schools to examine fee collections. He said schools would not be allowed to escape scrutiny by collecting money under different heads. “Any mandatory payment collected from parents will be treated as fee, irrespective of whether it is shown as tuition fee, building fund, transport fee, computer fee, sports fee or under any other head,” he said.

If schools don’t adhere, then fines ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh will be imposed and later affiliation will be cancelled, Mann said.

According to Mann, annual fee hikes will ordinarily be capped at 5 per cent. However, schools that have made investments in infrastructure such as new buildings, libraries or smart classrooms may seek permission from the district-level fee regulatory committee to raise fee by up to 8 per cent. Once the expenditure is recovered, the school would have to return to the 5 per cent limit.

He said the fee regulatory committees would also examine whether schools were complying with norms relating to admissions under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category. The committees would be empowered to seek records, interact with parents and verify whether any unauthorised charges had been collected.

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Mann said last month a 17-year-old girl student in Amritsar committed suicide after allegedly facing mental harassment by her school over pending dues. After this, he received calls from many parents over charging of arbitrary fee hike by private schools.

He said parents had repeatedly complained to him about steep fee hikes and charges being levied under multiple heads. Referring to the Covid period, he alleged that some schools had even collected transport charges despite buses not operating during the lockdown.

He also said schools would not be allowed to compel parents to purchase books, uniforms or other items from particular vendors. While schools could prescribe the colour and design of uniforms, parents would be free to buy them from any shop of their choice.

The Chief Minister asserted that the government would take a tough stand against violations. Asked what would happen if schools challenged the ordinance in court, Mann said the government was prepared to defend its decision. “If any school goes to the court, the government will also fight the case,” he said. Mann further said that if action against a school ever resulted in cancellation of affiliation, the government would ensure that students did not suffer and alternative arrangements would be made for their education.

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Last month, a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said, “In order to regularise unnecessary and unreasonable increase in fee by private non-aided schools, the Punjab Cabinet gave nod to bring Punjab Regulation of Fee of Un-aided Educational Institutions (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026.” The ordinance was brought by amending the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016.