New Delhi:Aam Aadmi Party has exposed the BJP government’s claim of returning the increased fees from private schools of Delhi to the parents. "You" Delhi Speaker Saurabh Bhardwaj has made this big disclosure citing the reply received from Education Minister Ashish Sood to the questions asked by Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Atishi. Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the Education Minister has admitted on the floor of the Assembly that no private school has returned the fees which were arbitrarily increased in the past to the parents. Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood himself has given this big revelation of nexus between BJP government and private schools in his answers.

The increased fees were not withdrawn

Saurabh Bhardwaj said on Twitter that the answers of Education Minister Ashish Sood in the Assembly session exposed the nexus with private schools. First, no private school withdrew the increased fees. Second, despite the financial audit of private schools, the Delhi government did not take any action. Third, despite the recommendation of the committee headed by the DM, no FIR was registered against the DPS school for harassment of students. And fourth, the Delhi government does not have any record of private schools increasing fees in April 2025.

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that as soon as the BJP government was formed in Delhi, in the session starting from April 1, 2025, almost all private schools increased their fees drastically ranging from 20 percent to 80 percent. In protest against this, parents organized fierce agitations and demonstrations, after which, under pressure, BJP Chief Minister and Education Minister Ashish Sood promised to conduct audit of private schools and refund the fees.

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the government was repeatedly asked about the results of the audit and the action taken on it, but no response was received. Therefore, Aam Aadmi Party MLAs asked questions to Education Minister Ashish Sood in the assembly session. When he was asked how many schools were audited, the answer was that a total of 1624 schools were audited.

The government did not reveal the names of the schools

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that when the next question was asked in which schools financial irregularities or profiteering were found in the audit, the government replied that the process was going on and the government did not reveal the names of those schools. After this, when it was asked that on the basis of audit, action like show cause notice, fine or cancellation of recognition was taken on how many schools till December, the answer was given that the process is going on. This means that so far no action has been taken against any school based on the much publicized audit.

How many schools have their fee hike rolled back?

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that when the government was asked for the list of schools increasing fees in the year 2025-26 and information about the increase, the minister replied in writing that he did not have any such data. That means the government does not even know which school has increased the fees by how much. The government did not have any answer on the question of how many schools had their fee hike refunded due to government intervention, which clearly shows that the fees of any school was not refunded.

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that when the Minister was asked whether he was aware of the High Court’s comment on the issue of harassment of students by DPS Dwarka for not paying the increased fees, making them sit in the library and deploying bouncers, he replied that it was not . Even though the Education Department was present in the court, the Minister is still shrugging off the situation.

The government is only making excuses

Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the DM’s committee had recommended registering an FIR in the DPS case. When asked in the Assembly whether an FIR was lodged, the reply was that the matter was under consideration in the Supreme Court. This is completely false because the court has not placed any ban on filing FIR. The government is only making excuses.

Saurabh Bhardwaj further said that this makes it clear that the talk of audit by the Delhi government was just a pretense. Despite the audit report, the government did not take any action against any school nor did it refund the fees of even a single student. Even where the High Court accepted the exploitation of students and the DM recommended an FIR, Ashish Sood’s education department is protecting DPS Dwarka and is not even registering an FIR.